U.S. v. Williams

• Decision Date: 05 March 2009
• Docket Number: Docket No. 07-2436-cr.
• Citation: 558 F.3d 166
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Leon WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

558 F.3d 166

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Leon WILLIAMS, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 07-2436-cr.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: July 9, 2008.

Reargued: December 2, 2008.

Decided: March 5, 2009.

Anjan Sahni and William J. Harrington, Assistant United States Attorneys (Jonathan S. Kolodner and Daniel Braun, Assistant United States Attorneys, of counsel), for Michael J. Garcia, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY, for Appellee.

B. Alan Seidler, New York, NY, for Defendant-Appellant.

Lewis J. Liman (Michael J. Byars, of counsel), Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, New York, NY, Amicus Curiae in Support of Defendant-Appellant.^*

Before: POOLER and HALL, Circuit Judges, and TRAGER, District Judge.^**

POOLER, Circuit Judge:

Leon Williams appeals from a June 1, 2007, judgment of conviction and sentence of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Sand, J.). Williams was convicted of a drug trafficking crime which carried a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A), and possession of a firearm in furtherance of that drug trafficking crime, an offense which carried a five-year mandatory minimum consecutive sentence "[e]xcept to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by ... any other provision of law" under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i). In this opinion, we address whether the district court erred in imposing the five-year mandatory minimum consecutive sentence under Section 924(c)(1)(A)(i) even though a greater minimum sentence was provided for the predicate drug trafficking crime. In United States v. Whitley, 529 F.3d 150 (2d Cir.2008), reh'g denied, 540 F.3d 87 (2d Cir.2008), we held that the mandatory minimum sentence under Section 924(c)(1)(A) was inapplicable where the defendant was subject to a longer mandatory minimum sentence for a career criminal firearm possession violation. We now hold that the mandatory minimum sentence under Section 924(c)(1)(A) is also inapplicable where the defendant is subject to a longer mandatory minimum sentence for a drug trafficking offense that is part of the same criminal transaction or set of operative facts as the firearm offense.

We therefore affirm the district court's judgment of conviction and remand to give the district court the opportunity to resentence Williams consistent with our holding that Williams is not subject to the mandatory five-year minimum under Section 924(c)(1)(A). We also conclude that remand is required pursuant to United States v. Regalado, 518 F.3d 143 (2d Cir. 2008). We reject Williams's other challenges to his conviction and sentence on appeal.

BACKGROUND

At trial, the government presented evidence that on the evening of February 27, 2006, two New York City Police Department officers on patrol saw Williams standing next to a parked car on the side of the road, urinating. As the officers approached, they saw that inside the car were multiple cellular phones, wads of cash wrapped in rubber bands, and a plastic bag containing white residue, later determined to be narcotics. One of the officers also noticed a strange odor which he associated with narcotics. Later that evening, an inventory search of the car revealed a hidden compartment containing a loaded gun, a gun magazine, bullets, and 180 small bags of powder and crack cocaine. Williams's fingerprints were on the gun magazine. At trial, Williams admitted that he had been driving the car, which was registered to his sister, and that the cellular phones and cash, which totaled $1,100, were his.

The jury found Williams guilty of three counts: (1) possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g);¹ (2) possessing with intent to distribute over 50 grams of crack cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 812, 841(a) & 841(b)(1)(A); and (3) possessing a firearm in furtherance of the drug trafficking crime charged in count two, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i). Williams was sentenced principally to 130 months' imprisonment on count one (felon-in-possession), to run concurrently with a sentence of 135 months' imprisonment on count two (drug trafficking), and an additional consecutive five years' (60 months') imprisonment on count three (possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking), for a total of 195 months' imprisonment.

The felon-in-possession conviction carried no mandatory minimum sentence. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). But the drug trafficking conviction carried a mandatory minimum penalty of ten years under 21 U.S.C § 841(b)(1)(A). Because Section 841(b)(1)(A) is "any other provision of law" that "otherwise provide[s]" "a greater minimum sentence," 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A), Williams argues that the five-year minimum for possession of a firearm under Section 924(c)(1)(A)(i) does not apply. Williams also raises various other challenges to his conviction and sentence.

DISCUSSION

I. Section 924(c)

A. United States v. Whitley

Section 924(c) provides graduated penalties for various types of firearm use. In United States v. Whitley, 529 F.3d 150 (2d Cir.2008), reh'g denied, 540 F.3d 87 (2d Cir.2008), we interpreted the introductory "except" clause of Section 924(c)(1)(A).² That subsection provides, in pertinent part:

Except to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by this subsection or by any other provision of law, any person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (including a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime that provides for an enhanced punishment if committed by the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or device) ... 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 of violence or drug trafficking crime—

(i) be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years;

(ii) if the firearm is brandished, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years; and

(iii) if the firearm is discharged, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years.

18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) (emphasis added).

In Whitley, the defendant was convicted of three offenses all stemming from the same armed robbery: (1) a Hobbs Act violation, with no mandatory minimum penalty, see 18 U.S.C. § 1951; (2) an Armed Career Criminal Act ("ACCA") offense for possession of a firearm after conviction of three prior offenses, for which the minimum penalty was fifteen years, see 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(e); and (3) a Section 924(c) offense for discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, for which the minimum penalty was a consecutive ten years, see 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii). We concluded that the consecutive minimum ten-year penalty under Section 924(c) did not apply because a higher fifteen-year minimum was imposed by the ACCA. Whitley, 529 F.3d at 151.

In reaching this conclusion, we rejected the government's argument that the "except" clause relates solely to those firearms offenses specified in Section 924(c). Id. at 153. We held that the "except" clause of Section 924(c) "means what it literally says"—that the minimum sentences it requires do not apply where " `a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by ... any other provision of law.'" Id. (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)) (emphasis added). "Any other provision of law" includes the ACCA. We rejected the government's arguments that this literal interpretation of the "except" clause is "unsupported by the text, design, or the purpose of the statute, would produce illogical and distorted outcomes that Congress clearly did not intend, and has been rejected by other circuits." Id. at 155 (citations and quotation marks omitted). We observed that, "other than the decisions that have rewritten the `except' clause in different ways to escape its plain meaning, we are aware of no decision rejecting the literal meaning of statutory language to the detriment of a criminal defendant." Id. at 156; see also Whitley, 540 F.3d at 88.

We are, of course, "bound by our own precedent unless and until its rationale is overruled, implicitly or expressly, by the Supreme Court or this court en banc." Nicholas v. Goord, 430 F.3d 652, 659 (2d Cir.2005) (quotation marks omitted). We must therefore determine whether the question of statutory interpretation in this case is materially different from the question addressed by Whitley. There are two potentially relevant differences—(1) in Whitley, the longer mandatory minimum sentence was provided by the ACCA for firearms-related conduct, while in this case, it is provided by a non-firearms offense,³ and (2) in Whitley, the longer mandatory minimum sentence under the ACCA was to run consecutively with the sentence on the predicate offense, while in this case, the longer mandatory minimum sentence is supplied by that predicate offense. The government now argues that Whitley should be limited to its facts—that is, to instances in which a defendant faces two consecutive mandatory minimum sentences for firearm-related conduct resulting from the use of a single gun. The government again argues that its interpretation is required by the statutory text and structure, the legislative history, and to avoid illogical applications of the statute. We conclude that to accept the government's position would contravene the reasoning and result of Whitley.

B. Statutory Text

"[S]tatutory analysis necessarily begins with the plain meaning of a law's text and, absent ambiguity, will generally end there." Puello v. BCIS, 511 F.3d 324, 327 (2d Cir.2007) (quotation marks omitted); see also Whitley, 529 F.3d at 156. The government argues that the clause "[e]xcept to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by ... any other provision of law," is ambiguous because it only directs a court where to look...