U.S. v. Nelson

• Decision Date: 19 April 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06-4333.,06-4333.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James Randy NELSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

484 F.3d 257

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James Randy NELSON, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 06-4333.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued March 13, 2007.

Decided April 19, 2007.

ARGUED: Sapna Mirchandani, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellant. Rachel L. Brand, United States Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

ON BRIEF:

Michael S. Nachmanoff, Acting Federal Public Defender, Riley H. Ross, III, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellant. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, James Ashford Metcalfe, Assistant United States Attorney, Edward K. Nickel, Third Year Law Student, Office of the United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.

Before WILLIAMS and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by published opinion. Senior Judge HAMILTON wrote the majority opinion, in which Judge WILLIAMS joined. Judge MOTZ wrote a dissenting opinion.

OPINION

HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

James Nelson pled guilty to possession of five grams or more of cocaine base (crack) with the intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(l)(B), and to possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, id. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C). In sentencing Nelson, the district court applied the enhanced ten-year mandatory minimum sentence required by § 841(b)(1)(B) for an offense committed "after a prior conviction for a felony drug offense has become final." Nelson appeals, arguing that the district court erroneously applied the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence because his prior March 1999 conviction for carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1), which is the predicate offense supporting the enhancement, is not a "felony drug offense" within the meaning of § 841(b)(1)(B). We disagree. The term "felony drug offense" is specifically and unambiguously defined in 21 U.S.C. § 802(44), and Nelson's March 1999 § 924(c)(1) conviction for carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime falls squarely within that definition. Accordingly, we affirm the district court's judgment.

I

A

Under § 841(b)(1)(B), a conviction obtained pursuant to § 841(a)(1) involving five or more grams of crack results in a mandatory minimum five-year sentence. Section 841(b)(1)(B) further provides that if the defendant committed the offense "after a prior conviction for a felony drug offense has become final," the mandatory minimum is enhanced to ten years. Although § 841 does not define "felony drug offense," § 802(44) does define the term as

an offense that is punishable by imprisonment for more than one year under any law of the United States or of a State or foreign country that prohibits or restricts conduct relating to narcotic drugs, marihuana, anabolic steroids, or depressant or stimulant substances.

21 U.S.C. § 802(44).

B

In September 1998, Nelson was charged by a federal grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Virginia with possession of crack with the intent to distribute, id. § 841(a)(1), and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). The drug trafficking crime charged in the § 924(c)(1) count was the drug offense charged in the § 841(a)(1) count. On March 8, 1999, Nelson pled guilty to the § 924(c)(1) count pursuant to a plea agreement. Pursuant to the plea agreement, the district court dismissed the § 841(a)(1) count. On the same day he pled guilty, Nelson was sentenced to sixty months' imprisonment on the § 924(c)(1) count.

Following his release from prison, Nelson was arrested after he urinated on the wall of a laundromat located on Coastal Boulevard in Onley, Virginia. As the arresting officer frisked Nelson for weapons, a scuffle apparently ensued, which led to Nelson's arrest. During the search incident to the arrest, the officer recovered crack and cocaine, as well as $2,522.55 in cash, from Nelson's person.

On August 25, 2005, a two-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of Virginia. Count One charged Nelson with possession of five grams or more of crack with the intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(l)(B), and Count Two charged Nelson with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, id. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C). Following the return of the indictment, the government filed a notice and information certifying that Nelson had been previously convicted of a felony drug offense and that the conviction was final, see id. § 851(a)(1). The felony drug offense listed in the notice and information was Nelson's March 1999 § 924(c)(1) conviction.

On October 25, 2006, Nelson pled guilty to both counts in the indictment, without the benefit of a plea agreement. A presentence report (PSR) was prepared, but it did not include the application of the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence contained in § 841(b)(1)(B).¹ Consequently, the government objected to the PSR's failure to apply the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence for a prior felony drug offense in § 841(b)(1)(B), contending that Nelson's March 1999 § 924(c)(1) conviction constituted a felony drug offense because the offense involved conduct that related to narcotic drugs.

In a published decision, see United States v. Nelson, 417 F.Supp.2d 773 (E.D.Va.2006), the district court sustained the government's objection, concluding that Nelson's March 1999 § 924(c)(1) conviction for carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime fell squarely within § 802(44)'s unambiguous definition of "felony drug offense." Thereafter Nelson was sentenced to concurrent terms of 120 months' imprisonment. Nelson noted a timely appeal.

II

On appeal, Nelson challenges the district court's holding that his March 1999 § 924(c)(1) conviction for carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime constituted a "felony drug offense," as that term is defined in § 802(44). As this issue involves the district court's interpretation of statutes, our review is de novo. United States v. Burgess, 478 F.3d 658, 660 (4th Cir.2007).

When confronted with an issue turning on the interpretation of one or several statutes, "[o]ur first step" is to determine whether the statutory language in play "has a plain and unambiguous meaning with regard to the particular dispute in the case." Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337, 340, 117 S.Ct. 843, 136 L.Ed.2d 808 (1997). Questions concerning the plainness or the ambiguity of the statutory language are resolved "by reference to the language itself, the specific context in which that language is used, and the broader context of the statute as a whole." Id. at 341, 117 S.Ct. 843. "Our inquiry must cease if the statutory language is unambiguous and the statutory scheme is coherent and consistent." Id. at 340, 117 S.Ct. 843 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). In most instances, "[s]tatutory definitions control the meaning of statutory words," Lawson v. Suwannee Fruit & S.S. Co., 336 U.S. 198, 201, 69 S.Ct. 503, 93 L.Ed. 611 (1949), and "[w]hen a statute includes an explicit definition, we must follow that definition, even if it varies from that term's ordinary meaning," Stenberg v. Carhart, 530 U.S. 914, 942, 120 S.Ct. 2597, 147 L.Ed.2d 743 (2000).

As noted above, § 841 does not define "felony drug offense," but § 802(44) does so. The term "felony drug offense" means an offense that is punishable by imprisonment for more than one year under any law of the United States or of a state or foreign country that prohibits or restricts conduct relating to narcotic drugs, marihuana, anabolic steroids, or depressant or stimulant substances. Accordingly, we must determine whether Nelson's March 1999 § 924(c)(1) conviction for carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime is an offense that "prohibits or restricts conduct relating to narcotic drugs," 21 U.S.C. § 802(44).

Section 924(c)(1)(A) states, in relevant part:

[A]ny person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime ... for which the person may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, or who, in furtherance of any such crime, possesses a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime ... be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years.

18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A).

Under the plain language of § 924(c)(1), the statute criminalizes the use or carrying of a firearm during and in relation to either a crime of violence or a drug trafficking crime. Thus, in a § 924(c)(1) prosecution, the government must prove that "(1) the defendant used or carried a firearm, and (2) the defendant did so during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense or crime of violence." United States v. Mitchell, 104 F.3d 649, 652 (4th Cir. 1997); see also O'Malley, Grenig, & Lee, 2A Federal Jury Practice and Instructions § 39.18 (5th ed.2000) (stating in its proposed § 924(c)(1) instruction that the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed a predicate crime and that the defendant used or carried a firearm during and in relation to that crime). Moreover, "a defendant's conviction under § 924(c) `does not depend on his being convicted — either previously or contemporaneously — of the predicate offense, as long as all of the elements of that offense are proved and found beyond a reasonable doubt.'" United States v. Hopkins, 310 F.3d 145, 152 (4th Cir.2002) (quoting United States v. Crump, 120 F.3d 462, 466 (4th Cir.1997)).

In this case, Nelson's guilty plea to the § 924(c)(1) offense constituted an admission of all the material elements of the crime. See McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 466, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 22...