U.S. v. Murray

• Decision Date: 13 May 1998
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Michael MURRAY, Appellant. NO. 97-7196.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Page 270

144 F.3d 270

UNITED STATES of America v. Michael MURRAY, Appellant.

NO. 97-7196.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued Nov. 7, 1997.

Decided May 13, 1998.

David A. Ruhnke (Argued), Ruhnke & Barrett, Montclair, NJ, for Appellant.

David M. Barasch, United States Attorney, William A. Behe (Argued), Assistant United States Attorney, Harrisburg, PA, for Appellee.

Before: BECKER, ROTH, Circuit Judges, and DIAMOND, District Judge. ^*

OPINION OF THE COURT

BECKER, ^** Chief Circuit Judge.

Michael Murray appeals for the second time from a judgment in a criminal case. ¹ In his first appeal, a panel of this court vacated one count of his conviction, affirmed two others, and remanded for resentencing on the affirmed counts. Murray now challenges the sentences imposed on remand. His appeal raises interesting and difficult questions concerning the contours of the so-called Sentencing Package Doctrine (the "doctrine") under the regime of the Sentencing Guidelines. Rejecting Murray's several contentions, we hold that the district court had the authority to resentence Murray on the affirmed counts; that there is no constitutional barrier to the district court imposing life sentences on those counts; that the district court did not abuse its discretion by departing from the applicable guideline range; and that the extent of the departure was reasonable. We therefore affirm the judgment.

I.

Murray was convicted following a jury trial of the intentional killing of Juan Carlos Bacallo in furtherance of a Continuing Criminal Enterprise ("CCE"), in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(e)(1)(A); conspiracy to distribute in excess of five (5) kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846 and 841(a)(1); and distribution of and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). On January 19, 1996, Murray was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for the CCE-related murder and to two concurrent ten-year sentences on the drug counts. ² Murray timely appealed his convictions, and, in United States v. Murray, 103 F.3d 310 (3d Cir.1997) (Murray I ), a panel of this court reversed Murray's conviction on the murder charge on the ground of trial error. ³ The panel was careful to indicate at various points that the errors did not require reversal of Murray's drug convictions. At the conclusion of the opinion, the panel stated:

For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the judgment of conviction and sentence on the murder charge and remand for a new trial. We affirm the judgment of conviction as to the drug charges and remand for resentencing, if appropriate, on those counts.

103 F.3d at 323.

On remand, the government took the position that the district court could permissibly vacate the concurrent ten-year terms imposed on the two drug counts and resentence Murray to life imprisonment--thus obviating the need (in practical terms) for a retrial on the murder charge. Murray objected to this procedure, but the district court proceeded with the resentencing. A revised presentence report ordered by the district court advised that the guideline level for Murray's drug offenses was 34, and that the murder of Bacallo was relevant conduct which could justify an upward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K2.1 (Death); and § 5K2.8 (Extreme Conduct). On April 10, 1997, the district court departed upwards and resentenced Murray to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment on the drug counts and imposed a $10,000 fine.

At the resentencing, the district court gave the following reasons for its departure:

The Court believes that there is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant committed murder. The killing of Juan Carlos Bacallo is relevant conduct associated with the defendant's offense of conviction and is an integral, aggravating circumstance not covered by the offense guideline.

The most analogous guideline to this relevant conduct is United States Sentencing Guidelines § 2A1.1 and offense level 43. Further, the dangerousness of the defendant's conduct, his intent prior to the killing and the cruel nature of the killing present the need for a consequence and a departure under the United States Sentencing Guideline 5K2.1 and section 5K2.8 for the loss of life caused by the defendant and his extreme conduct.

An upward departure of nine levels is deemed reasonable, and the sentence imposed is considered necessary after consideration of the nature and seriousness of the offense and the need to afford an adequate deterrent as required by 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

In addition, the district court entered into the record an Addendum to Statement of Reasons for the departure wherein it stated:

It is noted that because the drug convictions involved more than five kilograms of cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A) reflects that the Court must impose a sentence of no less than 10 years and can impose life imprisonment. While it appears that the court can not use the intentional killing in determining the defendant's guideline calculations, it is relevant conduct and can therefore be used in support of a substantial upward depart at resentencing on the drug counts. [See also United States v. Baird, 109 F.3d 856 (3d Cir.1997) ]

This appeal followed. The government informed us at oral argument that it does not intend to retry Murray on the murder charge if the resentencing on the drug counts is affirmed.

II.

Murray first contends that the district court was without authority to resentence him on the drug counts. This argument is foreclosed by this court's mandate in Murray I. There the panel "affirm[ed] the judgment of conviction as to the drug charges and remand[ed] for resentencing, if appropriate, on those counts." 103 F.3d at 323. While the wording of the mandate, and in particular the use of the phrase if appropriate, may be imprecise, there is no doubt that the prior panel vacated Murray's drug sentences and remanded for the district court to at least consider resentencing on the drug counts. Such a mandate does not impose any additional restriction, other than those provided by applicable statutes, constitutional provisions, and the Guidelines, on a district court's ability to fashion de novo a new sentence on remand.

Because of the mandate, Murray's claim that the district court lacked the authority to resentence him reduces to an attack on this court's authority, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2106 (1997), to vacate the sentences on the drug counts and remand for resentencing. This argument is derived from United States v. Busic, 639 F.2d 940 (3d Cir.1981), wherein we faced, inter alia, the question whether it was permissible to vacate a sentence imposed on an unchallenged count of a multicount conviction where the conviction on another count was overturned. We determined that "[i]n such a case, where the sentences were interdependent, we believe an appellate court, vacating one of those sentences, can vacate the other sentence even if its imposition is not specifically raised on appeal." Id. at 947 (emphasis supplied); see also id. at 947 n. 10.

Based on this language, which gave rise to what has since been termed the sentencing package doctrine, Murray argues that resentencing is inappropriate in this case since his drug sentences were ordered to be served concurrently to his murder sentence, and hence the sentences were not interdependent. This argument raises interesting and difficult questions regarding the breadth of the doctrine and its continued relevance in the era of Guideline sentencing. However, we need not reach these issues here. ⁴ Unlike the defendant in Busic, Murray did challenge his conviction on the drug counts. The Murray I panel's authority to remand for resentencing on those counts thus stems directly from 28 U.S.C. § 2106, which we set forth in the margin. ⁵ The authority granted by § 2106 is discretionary, and while the jurisprudence of sentencing, including the concepts underlying the sentencing package doctrine, serves as a guide to courts in making the determination whether remand is appropriate, the courts of appeals are not bound to apply these concepts in determining whether to remand for resentencing on counts "lawfully brought before [them] for review." Here, the panel did not state the reasons supporting its decision to remand the drug counts for resentencing. However, even if it had, and we disagreed with those reasons, the fact is that it has done so, and we are without authority on this appeal to substitute our views for those of the Murray I panel.

III.

Turning to the legality of the life sentences imposed on remand, we find Murray's arguments that his resentencing violates his due process rights and the prohibition against double jeopardy to be without merit. ⁶ Murray's due process claim is predicated on North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). However, since his new sentences on the drug counts do not exceed the total length of his original sentence, and we find no evidence of vindictiveness on the part of the sentencing court, we reject this claim. See Kelly v. Neubert, 898 F.2d 15, 16 (3d Cir.1990). Murray's double jeopardy claim is foreclosed by the fact that there can be no legitimate expectation of finality in a sentence and conviction which the defendant appeals. See United States v. Shue, 825 F.2d 1111, 1115 (7th Cir.1987) (citation omitted); see also Pennsylvania v. Goldhammer, 474 U.S. 28, 30, 106 S.Ct. 353, 353-54, 88 L.Ed.2d 183 (1985) (double jeopardy clause does not bar resentencing on counts affirmed on appeal when a sentence of imprisonment on another count is vacated).

IV.

Finally, Murray argues that the nine-level upward departure to a base offense level of 43 was not reasonable and should be reduced by this court. ⁷ We disagree. The district court properly followed the course charted in United States v. Kikumura, 918 F.2d 1084 (3d Cir.1990), for determining the appropriateness and extent of an...