Garris v. United States
| Decision Date | 24 April 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-1549.,83-1549. |
| Citation | 491 A.2d 511 |
| Parties | David I. GARRIS, a/k/a Ronnie Garris, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee. |
| Court | D.C. Court of Appeals |
Franklin D. Kramer, Washington, D.C., with whom R. James Woolsey, Washington, D.C., was on brief, for appellant.
Daniel S. Seikaly, Asst. U.S. Atty., Washington, D.C., with whom Joseph E. diGenova U.S. Atty., Michael W. Farrell, Judith Hetherton, and Steven D. Gordon, Asst. U.S. Attys., Washington, D.C., were on brief, for appellee.
Before PRYOR, Chief Judge, and NE-BEKER and BELSON, Associate Judges.
This appeal after remand for resentencing presents issues respecting double jeopardy arising from multiple convictions, merger, and consecutive sentencing. We affirm in all but one respect and there we remand to vacate the unauthorized use of a vehicle count. Appellant was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, D.C. Code § 22-2401 (1981); felony murder committed during the course of a robbery, id.; robbery, id. § 22-2901; felony murder committed during the course of a grand larceny, id. § 22-2401; unauthorized use of a vehicle, id. § 22-2204; and two counts of grand larceny, id. § 22-2201.1 These convictions were affirmed in Garris v. United States, 465 A.2d 817 (D.C. 1983), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S.Ct. 1013, 79 L.Ed.2d 243 (1984). However, this court remanded the case for resentencing after finding the trial court's imposition of concurrent sentences for felony murder (robbery), felony murder (grand larceny), and the underlying felonies of robbery and grand larceny to be improper.
The original and second set of sentences are set out in the following chart:
Charge Sentencing #1 Sentencing #2
first-degree pre-meditated
murder 20 years to life 20 years to life
felony murder 20 years to life
(robbery) concurrent conviction vacated
felony murder 20 years to life
(grand larceny) concurrent conviction vacated
grand larceny 3 to 9 years
concurrent conviction vacated2
unauthorized use 15 to 45 months 15 to 45 months
of a vehicle concurrent concurrent
robbery 5 to 15 years 5 to 15 years
consecutive consecutive
grand larceny 2 to 6 years 2 to 6 years
consecutive consecutive
Appellant now argues that the court erred in imposing sentence for both unauthorized use of a vehicle and grand larceny of the same vehicle. The government concedes that under this court's decision in Arnold v. United States, 467 A.2d 136 (D.C. 1983), appellant's convictions for both of these charges violate the Double Jeopardy Clause. Because the unauthorized use of a vehicle conviction merges into the grand larceny conviction, Jones v. United States, 479 A.2d 332 (D.C. 1984), the unauthorized use of a vehicle conviction must be vacated.
Appellant further argues that, on remand, the trial court improperly vacated the felony murder (robbery) conviction in order to sentence him consecutively for the robbery. He advances the following reasoning in support of his position: under Whalen v. United States, 445 U.S. 684, 100 S.Ct. 1432, 63 L.Ed.2d 715 (1980), appellant's initial sentences for both felony murder (robbery) and robbery violated the Double Jeopardy Clause. Thus, when Judge Ugast resentenced appellant, he had to vacate one of the convictions. However, because D.C.Code § 22-2404 (1981) establishes a mandatory sentence of twenty years to life for all first-degree murder convictions, the trial court was required to sentence Garris for both the premeditated and felony murder counts. Further, Doepel v. United States, 434 A.2d 449 (D.C.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1037, 102 S.Ct. 580, 70 L.Ed.2d 483 (1981), would prohibit, on double jeopardy grounds, consecutive sentencing on these counts. Id. at 459. Appellant argues, in effect, that this court should preempt the sentencing function and limit appellant's punishment to twenty years to life, regardless of the additional crimes committed during the course of the murder. Surely Congress never intended that such an anomalous result should flow from the application of D.C.Code § 22-2404 (1981).
The trial court's sentence was fully consistent with Congress' intent that a mandatory minimum sentence be imposed for first-degree murder convictions. We note at the outset that appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment for the first-degree premeditated murder, satisfying the mandate of D.C.Code § 22-2404 (1981). Subsection (a) provides that "[t]he punishment of murder in the first degree shall be life imprisonment." Subsection (b) goes on to state that "a person convicted of first-degree murder and upon whom a sentence of life imprisonment is imposed shall be eligible for parole [after 20 years]." The import of these two provisions is that a trial judge has no discretion when passing sentence on a first-degree murder conviction. No language in the statute even intimates that the trial court is restrained from vacating such a conviction in order to correct a double jeopardy or other constitutional violation. Appellant's reading of D.C.Code § 22-2404 (1981) runs counter to the well-established statutory preference in this jurisdiction that consecutive sentences be imposed when an individual is convicted of two or more offenses, even if the convictions arise out of the same act or transaction. D.C.Code § 23-112 (1981); Jones v. United States, 401 A.2d 473, 475 (D.C. 1979).
Appellant's argument contravenes not only Congressional intent but also controlling case authority in this jurisdiction. In Harling v. United States, 460 A.2d 571 (D.C. 1983), defendant was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, three underlying felonies (burglary and two counts of armed robbery), and four assaults. The armed robbery sentences were to run concurrently to one another but consecutively to the murder sentences, and the burglary sentence was to run consecutively to all of these. In remanding the case, this court directed the trial court to vacate either the conviction for felony murder or the convictions for the underlying felonies. At the same time, we emphasized that
If the trial court on remand should vacate the felony murder conviction (as opposed to vacating the conviction for the underlying felonies), our ruling will not affect the trial court's earlier order that appellant's sentence for premeditated murder be consecutive to the sentences for armed robbery, armed burglary and the several assaults with a dangerous weapon.
Both in Harling and the instant case, this court's instructions for remand allowed the trial court to effectuate its original sentencing plan without violating the Double Jeopardy Clause....
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