United States v. Wiley

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
June 22, 2010
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
TENTH CIRCUIT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee, No. 09-5142
v. (N.D. Oklahoma)
KWINTON NOLAN WILEY, (D.C. No. 4:09-CR-00049-JHP-1)
Defendant - Appellant.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before MURPHY, GORSUCH, and HOLMES, Circuit Judges.
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination
of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
I. INTRODUCTION
Appellant Kwinton Wiley shot and killed his neighbor’s dog after it bit his
son. Wiley was charged with and pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited,
however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th
Cir. R. 32.1.
a firearm. At sentencing, the district court applied a four-level enhancement for
possessing the firearm in connection with another felony offense, cruelty to
animals. On appeal, Wiley challenges the application of this enhancement.
Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, the court AFFIRMS
Wiley’s sentence.
II. BACKGROUND
Wiley pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation
of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). Wiley was charged with this offense
after he used a rifle to shoot his neighbor’s pit bull because it bit his eight-year-
old son. Wiley had been convicted of a felony prior to the date he shot the pit
bull.
The calculation of Wiley’s advisory guidelines range in the pre-sentence
report included a four-level enhancement pursuant to USSG § 2K2.1(b)(6) for
possessing the firearm in connection with another felony offense, specifically
cruelty to animals in violation of Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 1685. Wiley objected to
this enhancement and argued, in part, that had he actually been charged with
cruelty to animals, he could have successfully raised the affirmative defense that
the dog was a nuisance which he was entitled to abate.
At sentencing, Farran Bell, the mother of Wiley’s son, testified the pit bull
was chained to a tree in the neighbor’s front yard, but could reach the edge of the
sidewalk. According to Bell, the dog was vicious and aggressive toward passers-
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by during the six or seven months prior to the incident. She also testified both
she and her sister had been bitten by the dog in the weeks before Wiley killed it.
Nonetheless, neither the police nor animal control were contacted about the dog’s
behavior.
The district court overruled Wiley’s objection and concluded Wiley had no
legal right to destroy the dog. Thus, it applied the four-level enhancement. In
doing so, the court stressed that no complaint had ever been filed against the dog
and the dog’s owner had volunteered to remove the dog from the yard.
Accordingly, the court imposed a sentence of sixty months’ imprisonment. Wiley
now appeals his sentence.
III. DISCUSSION
Wiley argues the district court’s findings cannot support the conclusion that
he had no legal right to destroy the dog and, therefore, his sentence cannot be
enhanced under USSG § 2K2.1(b)(6). “When evaluating sentence enhancements
under the Sentencing Guidelines, we review the district court’s factual findings
for clear error and questions of law de novo.” United States v. Mozee, 405 F.3d
1082, 1088 (10th Cir. 2005).
The enhancement in question instructs the district court to increase a
defendant’s offense level by four if the court finds, by a preponderance of the
evidence, “the defendant used or possessed any firearm or ammunition in
connection with another felony offense.” USSG § 2K2.1(b)(6); see also Mozee,
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405 F.3d at 1086 (referencing § 2K2.1(b)(5), which was moved to § 2K2.1(b)(6)
in the 2006 Guidelines Manual). The Sentencing Guidelines define “another
felony offense” as “any federal, state, or local offense . . . punishable by
imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, regardless of whether a criminal
charge was brought, or a conviction obtained.” USSG § 2K2.1, cmt. n.14(C).
At sentencing, Wiley did not contest that cruelty to animals constitutes a
felony under Oklahoma law. Rather, he argued that had he been charged with
cruelty to animals, he would have been entitled to the affirmative defense that he
was abating a nuisance when he killed the dog. On appeal, he argues the facts the
district court relied upon do not establish by a preponderance of the evidence that
he was not entitled to abate a nuisance.
Oklahoma law provides that any person may abate a public or private
nuisance “by removing or, if necessary, destroying the thing which constitutes the
[nuisance], without committing a breach of the peace or doing unnecessary
injury.” Okla. Stat. tit. 50, § 12 (public nuisance); Okla. Stat. tit. 50, § 14(private nuisance). This court’s reading of the sentencing transcript reveals the
district court focused on two facts in particular when overruling Wiley’s objection
to the enhancement: no complaints or reports were ever filed with police or
animal control and the dog’s owner volunteered to take the dog to another
location.
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Wiley argues neither reason supports a ruling that he was not entitled to
abate the nuisance. He cites Hummel v. State for the proposition that “a person
who is aggrieved by a private nuisance has the right to abate the same by his own
act, upon his own motion, without instituting any legal proceedings.” 99 P.2d
913, 916 (Okla. Crim. App. 1940) (quotation omitted). Additionally, he argues
the owner’s offer to remove the dog does not support a finding that killing the
dog was not necessary in light of the undisputed testimony presented that the
owner was aware of the dog’s aggressive behavior but did nothing about it.
We assume without deciding that abating a nuisance is a valid affirmative
defense to the crime of cruelty to animals in Oklahoma. Further assuming the dog
constituted a nuisance and Wiley was not required to contact the police or animal
control before abating the nuisance, Wiley’s argument still fails. The evidence
presented supports the district court’s ruling that the Government established by a
preponderance of the evidence it was not necessary to kill the dog in order to
abate the nuisance. While there was testimony indicating the dog’s owner failed
to address the dog’s behavior in the past, the district court found the owner had
actually agreed to address it after Wiley’s son was bitten. Further, there was no
indication in Farran Bell’s testimony that the owner had previously agreed to do
so but failed.
In light of the substantial deference given to the district court’s findings of
fact and our obligation to “view the evidence and inferences therefrom in the light
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most favorable to the district court’s determination,” Mozee, 405 F.3d at 1088, we
conclude the district court’s finding on this issue supports its ruling that killing
the dog was not necessary to abate the nuisance. Therefore, the district court did
not err in finding, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Wiley used or
possessed a firearm in connection with the felony offense of cruelty to animals by
killing the dog, an action he had no legal right to undertake. Accordingly, the
four-level enhancement under USSG § 2K2.1(b)(6) was properly applied.
IV. CONCLUSION
For these reasons, Wiley’s sentence is AFFIRMED.
ENTERED FOR THE COURT
Michael R. Murphy
Circuit Judge
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