U.S. v. Young, Docket No. 97-1455
| Decision Date | 12 May 1998 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 97-1455 |
| Citation | 143 F.3d 740 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Aubrey Stanley YOUNG, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
David B. Pitofsky, Assistant United States Attorney, Brooklyn, NY (Zachary W. Carter, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Peter A. Norling, Assistant United States Attorney, Brooklyn, NY, on the brief), for Appellant.
Barry D. Leiwant, The Legal Aid Society, Federal Defender Division, Appeals Bureau, New York City, for Defendant-Appellee.
Before: KEARSE and MINER, Circuit Judges, and KEENAN, * District Judge.
The government appeals from an amended judgment entered July 28, 1997 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, convicting Defendant Aubrey Stanley Young of importing cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 952(a) following Young's plea of guilty before David G. Trager, Judge. The district court sentenced the defendant to 21 months' imprisonment, to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release, and imposed a $100 special assessment. The defendant, a naturalized United States citizen, received a one-level downward departure because the court believed that the Sentencing Commission did not consider the impact of a one-level downward departure for aliens who stipulate to deportation upon "similarly situated Americans." In the Eastern District of New York, the United States Attorney has a policy of agreeing to recommend a one-level downward departure at sentencing pursuant to federal Sentencing Guidelines ("Guidelines") § 5K2.0 in cases involving aggravated felonies committed by alien defendants. In return for this departure recommendation, the alien defendant must agree to stipulate to a judicial order of removal. The alien defendant is required to waive his right to a removal hearing before an immigration judge and his right to appeal or otherwise challenge the removal order. The entry of the order of removal results in the immediate deportation of the alien defendant upon the completion of his period of incarceration. On appeal, the government contends that the district court erred in granting the one-level downward departure based upon Young's status as a naturalized United States citizen because the court improperly equated Young with alien defendants with whom he was not similarly situated. For the reasons discussed below, we reverse.
On November 23, 1996, Young was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport, having arrived on a flight from Guyana with a piece of luggage that contained 1,356 grams of cocaine. He was indicted for drug importation in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 952(a) and drug possession with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Young entered into a written plea agreement with the government, pursuant to which Young pleaded guilty to the § 952(a) count. The plea agreement provided for the government to recommend to the Probation Department a four-level reduction for minimal role in the offense, pursuant to Guidelines § 3B1.2(a), and a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, pursuant to Guidelines § 3E1.1. The plea agreement did not include an agreement by the government to recommend a one-level departure for stipulated deportation because the defendant became a naturalized citizen on September 7, 1994. Young satisfied a further two-level reduction under the "safety valve" provisions of Guidelines §§ 2D1.1(b)(4) and 5C1.2. Thus, his base offense level was reduced from 26 to 17, calling for a guideline range of 24 to 30 months.
At Young's June 5, 1997 sentencing, defense counsel sought the one-level departure given to alien defendants who stipulate to deportation. He argued that to deny Young the one-level departure would, in effect, penalize him for having entered the country legally in 1981 and becoming a citizen in 1994. Relying upon this argument, the district court granted the requested one-level departure:
MR. KIRCHHEIMER [defense counsel]: Well, I would like to ask you to give him less than 24 months, Judge. This is one of the unique cases where Mr. Young will suffer for the fact he actually went ahead and got naturalized as an American citizen. He can't stipulate to deportation, because he doesn't live in Guyana.
...
MR. PITOFSKY [the Assistant U.S. Attorney]: Your Honor, if I could be heard? I understand your Honor's sympathies in this case and desire to show some leniency to the defendant, but the basis on which the Court just gave [a] departure is, while clever, illogical, and the argument is simply--it simply has nothing to do with the facts of the case.
THE COURT: I have no doubt if you appeal I will be reversed. All right. If you want to save the government the money, I think 21 months is a reasonable sentence for this defendant. It is not like he's walking out of here.
(Sentencing Transcript, June 5, 1997, at 2-4.)
The written judgment, filed on June 25, 1997, did not reflect the district court's decision to grant the one-level downward departure. Rather, the judgment indicated that the parties consented to an unspecified one-level reduction. The government moved to correct this error in the written judgment, pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 36. At a conference on July 16, 1997, the district court granted the government's motion to correct the written judgment. During that conference, the district court also expanded upon its reasoning in granting the one-level downward departure:
The record ought to point out the following: The whole purpose of the guidelines, [the] essential purposes were two fold. One, truth in sentencing and more importantly that similarly situated defendants should get the same sentence.
For a long history will tell the story how defendants, alien defendants, essentially served their time plus additional time because the Department of Justice could not run the Immigration and Naturalization Service properly, so people were sitting in jail waiting for deportation proceedings and history [sic] is outlined in Judge Korman's opinion on the subject.
The Justice Department, unwilling to provide the resources to make the immigration services work, decided they would adopt a new approach, hardly one that I would criticize, which was in effect to give a discount to aliens by giving them a step if they waive their procedural right.
That is essentially what happened here, to in effect relieve the burden on the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The only problem with that approach is that it ends up creating new...
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