U.S. v. Walker, 05-1812.
| Decision Date | 17 May 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-1812.,05-1812. |
| Citation | 447 F.3d 999 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas WALKER, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
James M. Warden (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
James C. McKinley (argued), Indiana Federal Community Defenders, Inc., Indianapolis, IN, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before POSNER, WILLIAMS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
Thomas Walker, an inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, pleaded guilty to stabbing four correctional officers with sharpened metal rods. A few days later he had second thoughts and mailed a letter to the district court asking to withdraw one of his guilty pleas. On the day of sentencing, Walker's attorney filed a motion to withdraw all four pleas, asserting that Walker "felt coerced" to plead guilty because the district court had denied his motion to transfer the case to Indianapolis and he did not think he could get a fair trial in Terre Haute. The district court denied Walker's motion and sentenced him to 240 months' imprisonment — 30 months longer than the high end of the applicable advisory Sentencing Guidelines range.
Walker argues on appeal that (1) the district court should have permitted him to withdraw his guilty pleas, (2) under Rule 32(h) of the FEDERAL RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE he was entitled to advance notice before the district court imposed a sentence that departed upward from the advisory Guidelines range, and (3) his sentence was unreasonable.
We affirm. The district court held that Walker had not presented a fair and just reason to withdraw his guilty pleas but had merely changed his mind; this ruling was not an abuse of discretion. Rule 32(h)'s notice requirement — which applies to "departures" from the Guidelines, a concept that our post-Booker1 cases have called "obsolete" — does not apply here, where the district court selected a sentence at variance from the advisory Guidelines range based on the sentencing factors specified in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Finally, Walker's sentence of 240 months was reasonable and adequately explained by the district court.
Joseph Sims, Gary Brummett, Terry Ray, and Lloyd McPherson, Jr., were on duty as correctional officers at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, on July 14, 2004. Sims was sitting on a stool monitoring a metal detector as inmates returned to their housing units for the evening. Walker sneaked up behind Sims and stabbed him twice in the back with two sharpened metal rods. Walker then ran down a corridor where Officers Brummett, Ray, and McPherson apprehended him, but not before Walker managed to stab each of these officers as well. All four officers were treated for their injuries at a local hospital, with Sims requiring an overnight stay.
FBI Agent James Buckley interviewed Walker about the assaults. After signing a written Miranda waiver, Walker admitted to Buckley that he stabbed one officer during the incident on July 14, and also that he swung the sharpened metal rods at three other officers but was not sure whether he actually stabbed any of them. Walker told Buckley he did not know Officer Sims's name and had not been angry at him when he stabbed him, but simply wanted to escape from the penitentiary.
A grand jury indicted Walker on four counts of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and inflicting bodily injury in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(a) and (b).2 After his initial hearing in the district court in Terre Haute, the Bureau of Prisons transferred Walker to its penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, pending trial. Walker moved to transfer his case from Terre Haute to Indianapolis. He asserted that radio and television stations in the Terre Haute area had broadcast news accounts of the July 14 assaults during the week following the incident. Walker argued that these news accounts, coupled with the federal penitentiary's status as a major employer in Terre Haute, made it unlikely that a fair and impartial trial could be had if the case were not transferred.
The district court held a hearing on February 8, 2005, to consider Walker's motion to transfer the case. Walker had been returned to the Terre Haute penitentiary to facilitate his presence at the hearing; the Bureau of Prisons intended to keep him in Terre Haute until his trial in March. The government opposed transferring the case, citing the inconvenience to its witnesses, all of whom resided in the Terre Haute area. The district court denied the motion, proposing instead to call a larger-than-usual venire:
[T]he remedy is not transferring this case to Indianapolis, given all of the witnesses that will be here in any case. The remedy is calling a few more jurors to see if there is the kind of prejudice that you — that defense is concerned about. And if of course there is, if we find that, we'll not convene the trial at that point and we'll go to Indianapolis. But at this point I don't think it's necessary.
Defense counsel then asked to have Walker transferred back to the penitentiary in Marion until the start of his trial, citing Walker's concerns about his safety in Terre Haute. The court tried to reset the trial for an earlier date so as to minimize Walker's time in Terre Haute, but government counsel's schedule made that unworkable. The following exchange then ensued:
At that point the court recessed for fifty-five minutes, and Walker and his counsel prepared a petition to enter a guilty plea without a plea agreement.
The court reconvened, and during the change-of-plea colloquy, the judge recited the elements of the four counts against Walker. Walker admitted that each element was satisfied and he was guilty of four violations of § 111(a) and (b).3 The judge then advised Walker that he faced the potential of twenty years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the four counts, for a maximum possible sentence of eighty years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. Walker said he understood these potential penalties. The court then evaluated the voluntariness of Walker's pleas:
The government then presented the factual basis for the pleas through the testimony of FBI Agent Buckley. Buckley recounted the details of Walker's confession admitting that he assaulted the four on-duty officers with two sharpened metal rods. Responding to questions from the court, Walker admitted Buckley's testimony was correct, and the court accepted the guilty pleas on all four counts.
On February 22 the district court received a letter from Walker stating he wished to withdraw his guilty plea on count four of the indictment (the assault on McPherson). On March 9, the day of Walker's sentencing hearing, defense counsel formally moved for leave to withdraw Walker's guilty pleas on all four counts. The motion asserted that Walker's pleas were not voluntary because he was "anguished and distraught over the Court's denial of [his] motion to transfer the case, and believed that he could not receive a fair trial before an impartial jury in Terre Haute, thus he had no choice but to plead guilty." The court denied the motion, concluding that
The court then proceeded to sentencing, assigning Walker an adjusted offense level of 30 and a criminal history category of VI under the Sentencing Guidelines. This produced an advisory sentencing range of 168-210 months' imprisonment. The parties agreed that the court correctly calculated this range because Walker qualified as a career offender under the Guidelines.4 Consulting the range as advisory, the district court concluded that it did not adequately address "the number of assaults in this case, and the viciousness of the attack, and the complete lack of any motivation but harm and violence for its own sake." The court imposed an above-Guidelines sentence of 240 months in prison.
A defendant may withdraw a guilty plea before sentence is imposed if he presents a "fair and just reason for the withdrawal." FED. R. CRIM. P. 11(d)(2)(B). The burden is on the defendant to demonstrate a fair and just reason for plea withdrawal. United States v. Milquette, 214 F.3d 859, 861 (7th Cir.2000). Walker argued in the district court that his guilty pleas were not voluntary because of the pressure he felt as a result of the court's denial of his motion to transfer his case to Indianapolis. See United States v. Ellison, 835 F.2d 687, 692-93 (7th Cir. 1987) (...
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