United States v. Alan Lee Church

• Decision Date: 10 September 2013
• Docket Number: Nos. 12–5056,12–5565.,s. 12–5056
• Citation: 731 F.3d 530
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Alan Lee CHURCH aka Allen Lee Church (12–5056) and Scott Anthony Reisdorfer (12–5565), Defendants–Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

731 F.3d 530

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Alan Lee CHURCH aka Allen Lee Church (12–5056) and Scott Anthony Reisdorfer (12–5565), Defendants–Appellants.

Nos. 12–5056, 12–5565.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Sept. 10, 2013.

ON BRIEF:David S. Hoskins, Corbin, Kentucky, for Appellant in 12–5056. Patrick F. Nash, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellant in 12–5565. Charles P. Wisdom, Miguel Dickson, United States Attorney's Office, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellee.

Before: DAUGHTREY, McKEAGUE, and GRIFFIN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

MARTHA CRAIG DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge.

Federal prisoners Alan Lee Church and Scott Anthony Reisdorfer each pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting an inmate resulting in serious bodily harm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6). They were sentenced to 57 and 65 months in prison, respectively. Church appeals the district court's denial of his motion for a downward departure based on his claim that the victim provoked his conduct (12–5056). Reisdorfer appeals the district court's restitution order, challenging the court's decision to make it payable to a third party—the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) (12–5565). For the reasons set out below, we find no error in connection with the district court's sentencing orders and affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The events giving rise to the charges in this case stemmed from a disturbing lack of supervision at the Big Sandy federal penitentiary in Inez, Kentucky. On February 6, 2011, inmates at Big Sandy celebrated Super Bowl Sunday by drinking contraband liquor, and one prisoner, Dewayne MacAnally, drank enough to become belligerent. He told Alan Lee Church, an inmate in the same housing unit, that he intended to stab another inmate, Scott Reisdorfer, with a shank (a homemade knife) that he had stored nearby. There was a history of bad blood between MacAnally and Reisdorfer, stemming from Reisdorfer's demotion from a leadership position in the local branch of the Aryan Brotherhood, and MacAnally's subsequent promotion to that position. Church, who, as the Captain of the Aryan Brotherhood chapter, outranked both Reisdorfer and MacAnally, hit MacAnally in the face to force him to abandon his plan to harm Reisdorfer. MacAnally started crying and apologized to Church, but he eventually became belligerent again. Church then physically restrained MacAnally from going after Reisdorfer, telling MacAnally to go to his cell and stay there. In order to ensure that MacAnally actually stayed in his cell and out of trouble, Church ordered another inmate, Joshua McBee, to stand guard in front of MacAnally's cell. He also removed all of the weapons that MacAnally had stored in McBee's locker and gave the weapons to Reisdorfer and McBee for safe keeping.

Sometime later in the evening, as Church entered MacAnally's cell to speak with him, Reisdorfer also entered the cell. MacAnally got angry and made a comment to Reisdorfer about knocking his tooth out. Reisdorfer responded by hitting MacAnally in the head, knocking him to the ground. At that point, Church told Reisdorfer to “kick [MacAnally's] ass and put him to bed” and left the cell. Reisdorfer, who was carrying a shank (something Church claims not to have known at the time), proceeded to beat and stab MacAnally and then went to get Church. When the two men returned to the cell, they found MacAnally lying unconscious on the cell floor, making “a funny noise,” and bleeding profusely. Church positioned MacAnally's head so that he would not choke on his own blood but otherwise took no action, leaving MacAnally alone in the cell until the guards found him later that night. Upon his discovery by the guards, MacAnally was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was found to have suffered massive head trauma, a collapsed lung, and two stab wounds in his back. He was subsequently transferred to the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, and has not regained consciousness since the attack. MacAnally's doctor at Butner reports that he suffered severe brain damage and will likely never wake up.

Church was subsequently indicted on one count of assaulting an inmate resulting in serious bodily harm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6). Reisdorfer was indicted on three counts of assault, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 113(a)(1), (a)(3), and (a)(6), and one count of knowingly possessing a prohibited weapon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1791(a)(2).

Church later pleaded guilty to the assault charge and filed a motion for a downward departure pursuant to USSG § 5K2.10, which allows courts to depart from the guidelines when the victim's conduct significantly contributes to provoking the defendant's offending behavior. The district court denied Church's § 5K2.10 motion but nonetheless imposed a below-Guidelines sentence of 57 months, to run consecutively to Church's existing sentence.

Reisdorfer pleaded guilty to the same assault charge, in exchange for the government's agreement to dismiss the other three counts against him, and was sentenced to 65 months of imprisonment. The judge concluded that restitution was obligatory but reserved judgment on the amount of restitution that Reisdorfer owed, to see if the parties could reach agreement on an amount. Their efforts were unsuccessful, leading the district court to schedule a restitution hearing to settle the issue. Following the hearing, the judge entered an amended judgment, ordering Reisdorfer to pay the BOP restitution in the amount of $121,496.56.

Church now appeals the court's refusal to grant a downward departure. Reisdorfer appeals the restitution order.

DISCUSSION

The Denial of a Downward Departure (12–5056)

Church contends that the district court erred when it denied his motion for a downward departure pursuant to USSG § 5K2.10. That guideline provides that if a victim's wrongful conduct contributed significantly to provoking the offense behavior, the court may reduce the sentence below the guideline range to reflect the nature and circumstances of the offense. It also lists six factors that courts should consider when deciding whether a sentence reduction is warranted. These include:

(1) The size and strength of the victim, or other relevant physical characteristics, in comparison with those of the defendant.

(2) The persistence of the victim's conduct and any efforts by the defendant to prevent confrontation.

(3) The danger reasonably perceived by the defendant, including the victim's reputation for violence.

(4) The danger actually presented to the defendant by the victim.

(5) Any other relevant conduct by the victim that substantially contributed to the danger presented.

(6) The proportionality and reasonableness of the defendant's response to the victim's provocation.

Id.

In this circuit, a district court's decision not to depart downwards is considered unreviewable, except where there is clear evidence that “the lower court incorrectly believed that it lacked authority to grant such a departure.” United States v. Madden, 515 F.3d 601, 610 (6th Cir.2008); see also United States v. Crouch, 288 F.3d 907, 910 (6th Cir.2002) (“We will presume that the district court understood its discretion to depart, absent clear evidence in the record to the contrary.”). If, however, a district court recognizes its discretion, we will review a district court's decision only if: “(1) the sentence was imposed in violation of the law; (2) it was imposed as a result of an incorrect application of the guidelines; (3) the sentence represented an upward departure; or (4) the sentence was imposed ‘for an offense for which there is no Sentencing Guideline and is plainly unreasonable.’ ” United States v. Puckett, 422 F.3d 340, 346 (6th Cir.2005) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a)).

Here, there is no clear evidence that the district court failed to understand its discretion to depart downward. To the contrary: at the sentencing, the district judge made it clear that the reason he was denying Church's motion was not because he believed he lacked the power to grant it, but because he believed doing so was inappropriate, given the circumstances of the case. (“[T]he reality of the 5K2.10 motion is I will deny that because I don't find that the factors are met.”)

On appeal, Church argues that the judge's decision not to depart is nevertheless reviewable by this court because it was imposed as a result of an incorrect application of the Sentencing Guidelines. More specifically, Church claims that the judge grafted a duress requirement onto § 5K2.10 when he concluded that Church was not entitled to a departure because he could have responded to MacAnally's aggressive behavior by calling the prison guards, rather than by assaulting him. Church also argues that when the judge noted during sentencing that his interpretation of the § 5K2.10 factors was influenced by his desire to foster civility in the institution of the prison, he “add[ed] a requirement not present in the guidelines” by suggesting that “different rules should apply because the defendant is a prisoner.”

We find no merit to these arguments. At sentencing, the district judge clearly indicated that he considered the fact that Church could have, but did not, call the prison guards relevant specifically to the fourth and sixth § 5K2.10 factors, rather than as an independent factor in its own right. The judge concluded that Church's failure to call for assistance likely meant that MacAnally did not represent a genuine danger to him (relevant to the fourth § 5K2.10) and that the physical force he used in response to MacAnally's belligerence was therefore disproportional and unreasonable (relevant to the sixth § 5K2.10 factor). The judge did not, therefore, graft an additional duress requirement onto § 5K2.10, but merely took Church's other options into account when applying the § 5K2.10 factors.

The record clearly establishes that the district court's denial of a departure was...