U.S. v. Coleman

• Decision Date: 15 June 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-1349.,05-1349.
• Citation: 451 F.3d 154
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Edward COLEMAN a/k/a John Long, Edward Coleman, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 154

451 F.3d 154

UNITED STATES of America v. Edward COLEMAN a/k/a John Long, Edward Coleman, Appellant.

No. 05-1349.

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Submitted Under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) April 27, 2006.

Opinion Filed June 15, 2006.

Robert Epstein, Assistant Federal Defender, David L. McColgin, Assistant Federal Defender, Maureen Kearney Rowley, Chief Federal Defender, Federal Court Division, Defender Association of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, for Appellant.

Patrick L. Meehan, United States Attorney, Robert A. Zauzmer, Assistant United States Attorney, Chief of Appeals, Jose R. Arteaga, Assistant United States Attorney, Office of United States Attorney, Philadelphia, PA, for Appellee.

Before AMBRO and FUENTES, Circuit Judges, and IRENAS,^* District Judge.

OPINION OF THE COURT

AMBRO, Circuit Judge.

Edward Coleman appeals from a judgment of conviction and sentence imposed by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He contends first that the Prosecutorial Remedies and Tools Against the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003 ("PROTECT Act"), Pub.L. No. 108-21, 117 Stat. 650, is unconstitutional insofar as it changed the structure of the United States Sentencing Commission to allow the President to appoint all Commission members from within the Executive Branch, as opposed to the former system under which at least three members were federal judges. Id. § 401(n) (amending 28 U.S.C. § 991(a)) (hereafter, the "Feeney Amendment").¹ He also asserts that, because prior convictions increased the statutory minimum sentence for his crimes, those convictions should have been charged in the indictment and proved to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the Government's failure to do so violated the Sixth Amendment. We find Coleman's arguments unpersuasive, and therefore affirm.

I. Factual Background and Procedural History

In June 2003, a Philadelphia police officer stopped Coleman's vehicle. As he approached the driver's side of the car, the officer saw that Coleman had a gun. The officer ordered Coleman and the passengers out of the car, but Coleman drove away at a high rate of speed. He crashed the car shortly thereafter and fled on foot. When police arrived, they discovered Coleman's driver's license (bearing an alias, "John Long"), over $1,200 in cash, and a loaded handgun with an obliterated serial number in the car. Police subsequently located Coleman at his girlfriend's house and arrested him. During a search of his person, police discovered cocaine and the prescription drug Xanax.

Coleman was arraigned and released on bail. In September 2003, police officers observed him driving a car without a license plate. When they attempted to stop the car, Coleman fled on foot. He was apprehended shortly thereafter, and in a subsequent search of his vehicle police discovered a loaded handgun and crack cocaine.

Coleman was indicted on five counts. The first three counts stemmed from the June 2003 arrest, and charged him with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) and possession of a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844. Counts Four and Five stemmed from the September 2003 arrest, and likewise charged him with unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance. Pursuant to Coleman's motion to sever the indictment, he was tried on Counts One through Three in July 2004; the jury convicted him on each one. He then pled guilty to Counts Four and Five.

At sentencing, the District Court determined that Coleman had five prior convictions (four for drug trafficking and one for a violent felony), and thus qualified as an armed career criminal under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). This increased the statutory minimum for his firearm possession offenses to at least 15 years in prison. Id. In light of his designation as an armed career criminal, the District Court applied U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4 and correctly calculated a recommended sentencing range for his firearm possession offenses of 235-293 months in prison. The Court decided that this advisory range was in accord with the sentencing factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), and after considering those factors and the advisory range, sentenced Coleman to 240 months in prison on Counts One and Four (the firearm possession charges), with a concurrent sentence of 36 months in prison on the remaining drug possession counts.² He appeals.

II. Jurisdiction and Standard of Review

The District Court had subject matter jurisdiction over this case under 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We exercise jurisdiction over Coleman's appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and (to the extent he contends his sentence was imposed in violation of law) 18 U.S.C. § 3742. Since Coleman raises purely legal issues of statutory and constitutional interpretation, our review is plenary. See, e.g., United States v. Singletary, 268 F.3d 196, 199 (3d Cir.2001).

III. Analysis

At the outset, we note that Coleman does not challenge the District Court's calculation of the recommended Guidelines sentence, or the reasonableness of the Court's decision to sentence him within that range. Rather, he contends that the entire Sentencing Guidelines system is unconstitutional because the Feeney Amendment allows the President to appoint to the Sentencing Commission only members of the Executive Branch. This, he argues, violates the separation of powers among the three branches of Government mandated by our Constitution because it places control over indictment, prosecution, and sentencing in the hands of the Executive Branch. He also asserts that, because his prior drug and violent felony convictions increased the statutory minimum punishment for his firearm possession offenses, the Sixth Amendment required the Government to charge his prior convictions in the indictment and prove them to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. We consider each argument in turn.

A. Does the Feeney Amendment Violate the Separation of Powers?

The United States Sentencing Commission is an "independent commission in the judicial branch" composed of seven voting members selected by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. 28 U.S.C. § 991(a). Prior to the Feeney Amendment in 2003, at least three members of the Commission were to be judges selected from a list submitted to the President by the Judicial Conference of the United States. Id. The Feeney Amendment modified this provision to state that "no more than three" members may be judges, thus allowing the President to appoint, if he wishes, only members of the Executive Branch to the Commission.

The Commission is charged, inter alia, with drafting and promulgating the Sentencing Guidelines, 28 U.S.C. § 994, and must submit proposed amendments to the Guidelines to Congress, which then has a specified period of time (at least 180 days) to modify or disapprove them before they become effective. Id. § 994(p). Guidelines sentence calculations must fall within the statutory range prescribed by Congress. See id. § 994(a) (stating that the Guidelines must be "consistent with all pertinent provisions of any Federal statute"); U.S.S.G. § 5G1.1 (stating that the Guidelines are inapplicable if the minimum sentence recommended by the Guidelines is higher than the statutory maximum, or if the maximum sentence recommended by the Guidelines is lower than the statutory minimum).

In Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 109 S.Ct. 647, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989), the Supreme Court held that the Sentencing Commission, as it was then constituted, did not violate the separation of powers. The Court held that Congress was within constitutional bounds in delegating to the Commission authority to promulgate the Guidelines, id. at 374-79, 109 S.Ct. 647, and that the composition of the Commission (including at least three federal judges) was constitutional. Id. at 397-408, 109 S.Ct. 647. The Court noted that "Congress' decision to create an independent rulemaking body to promulgate sentencing guidelines and to locate that body within the Judicial Branch is not unconstitutional unless Congress has vested in the Commission powers that are more appropriately performed by the other Branches or that undermine the integrity of the Judiciary." Id. at 385, 109 S.Ct. 647. It deemed the functions of the Commission, particularly the promulgation of the Guidelines, to be well within the judiciary's role. The Court noted, for example, that "the sentencing function long has been a peculiarly shared responsibility among the Branches of Government and has never been thought of as the exclusive constitutional province of any one Branch." Id. at 390, 109 S.Ct. 647. It dismissed as "fanciful" the argument that the President's power to appoint and remove the Commission's members gave him unconstitutional authority over the judiciary. Id. at 409, 109 S.Ct. 647; see id. at 410, 109 S.Ct. 647 ("We simply cannot imagine that federal judges will comport their actions to the wishes of the President for the purpose of receiving an appointment to the Sentencing Commission."). Moreover, the Court concluded that the Commission "is not a court and exercises no judicial power," and thus there was no concern that membership on the Commission would "vest Article III power in nonjudges or require Article III judges to share their power with nonjudges." Id. at 408, 109 S.Ct. 647.

The Court noted in dicta that "[if] Congress decided to confer responsibility for promulgating sentencing guidelines on the Executive Branch, we might face the constitutional questions whether Congress unconstitutionally had assigned judicial responsibilities to the Executive or unconstitutionally had united the power to prosecute and the power to sentence within one Branch." Id. at 391 n. 17, 109 S.Ct. 647. Coleman seeks to build on this observation to argue that, since the Feeney Amendment effectively removed all mandatory judicial input...