United States v. Gardner
| Decision Date | 27 May 2022 |
| Docket Number | 20-13645 |
| Citation | 34 F.4th 1283 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Quinton Deairre GARDNER, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
After pleading guilty, Quinton Deairre Gardner appeals his 180-month sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). At sentencing, the district court concluded that Gardner qualified for an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act ("ACCA"), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), because he had at least three prior "serious drug offenses." Namely, Gardner had three separate Alabama convictions for first-degree unlawful possession of marijuana for other than personal use and a conviction for unlawful distribution of a controlled substance.
To count as a "serious drug offense" under the ACCA, the drug offenses must have a "maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more ... prescribed by law." See 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(A)(ii). Alabama's statutory maximum penalties for each of Gardner's drug offenses was ten years or more. On appeal, Gardner argues the "maximum term of imprisonment" is not the "statutory maximum" penalty but instead the high end of the particular sentencing range calculated for his prior convictions under Alabama's presumptive sentencing standards. Because we apply the categorical approach, we look to the maximum statutory sentence for Gardner's drug offenses, not to the high end of his presumptive sentencing range. Therefore, we affirm Gardner's ACCA-enhanced sentence.
In January 2018, Gardner, a convicted felon, was pulled over by a Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office deputy during a traffic stop. The deputy ran a check on the license plate of the car Gardner was driving and found that the plate was assigned to a different vehicle. The deputy also confirmed Gardner's identity and discovered that Gardner had an outstanding warrant. During a search of Gardner's car, the deputy found a gun under the driver's seat. Although Gardner denied ownership of the gun, recorded jail telephone calls showed that Gardner was in fact the gun's owner but had coached the passenger in his car to claim ownership.
In 2019, Gardner pled guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of § 922(g)(1).
The probation officer prepared a presentence investigation report ("PSI") that recommended: (1) a base offense level of 24 under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(2) because Gardner committed the offense after sustaining two prior felony convictions for a controlled substance offense; (2) a two-level increase under U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 for attempting to unlawfully influence the passenger in his car to claim ownership of the gun; and (3) a three-level decrease under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a) and (b) for acceptance of responsibility.
As to criminal history, the PSI stated that Gardner had one 2011 and two separate 2014 Alabama convictions for first degree unlawful possession of marijuana for other than personal use and a 2015 Alabama conviction for unlawful distribution of a controlled substance. With a total offense level of 23 and a criminal history category of III, the resulting advisory guidelines range was 57 to 71 months’ imprisonment. The PSI stated that the statutory maximum sentence for his firearm offense was ten years’ imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(2) and did not recommend an ACCA enhancement.
Both Gardner and the government objected to the PSI. In their objections and later briefs, the parties disputed whether Gardner was subject to an ACCA-enhanced sentence because his four prior Alabama drug convictions qualified as "serious drug offenses."
The parties also submitted copies of state court documents relating to Gardner's prior drug convictions, including, inter alia , the charging, plea, and sentencing documents for the four drug convictions. According to these documents, Gardner's 2011 conviction for first-degree unlawful possession for other than personal use, in violation of Ala. Code § 13A-12-213(a)(1), was a class C felony. The statutory sentencing range was not less than one year and one day and not more than ten years, and Gardner was sentenced to five years in prison. See Ala. Code §§ 13A-12-213(b), 13A-5-6(a)(3) (2006).
Because this 2011 conviction predated the adoption of Alabama's presumptive guidelines in 2013, there was no mention of a presumptive sentencing range. At sentencing and on appeal Gardner has not disputed that this 2011 conviction qualified as a serious drug offense under the ACCA. Instead, he has focused on his three convictions sustained after Alabama's presumptive sentencing standards were adopted.
For Gardner's two § 13A-12-213(a)(1) convictions in 2014, the statutory maximum prison term was 20 years because Gardner already had one prior felony conviction. The presumptive sentencing range was 13 to 32 months, and the 20-year statutory maximum was the sentencing range for any upward departure from the presumptive sentencing range. For these two crimes, however, the state had not asserted any aggravating factors that would permit the state court to depart from the presumptive sentencing range, and the state court imposed 24-month sentences for each conviction, to run concurrently.
Finally, Gardner's 2015 distribution of a controlled substance offense, in violation of Ala. Code § 13A-12-211, was a class B felony. Because Gardner now had three prior felonies, the statutory maximum prison term was life imprisonment. The presumptive sentencing range was 30 to 104 months, and the life statutory maximum was the sentencing range for any upward departure from the presumptive sentencing range. As with his 2014 drug crimes, the state did not assert any aggravating factors to support an upward departure, and the state court imposed a sentence of seven years.
At a reconvened sentencing hearing, the district court sustained the government's objection and concluded that Gardner's prior Alabama drug convictions were ACCA-qualifying felonies. The district court determined that the "maximum term of imprisonment prescribed by law" for purposes of the ACCA's definition of "serious drug offense" was the state's statutory maximum prison term. Because Gardner had at least three ACCA-qualifying predicates, his total offense level was 30 and his criminal history category was IV, and his advisory guidelines range was 180-months, the statutory minimum term. See U.S.S.G. §§ 4B1.4, 5G1.1(b). The district court imposed a 180-month sentence.
Under the ACCA, a defendant who violated § 922(g) is subject to a mandatory minimum 15-year sentence if the defendant has three previous convictions for a "serious drug offense" that were "committed on occasions different from one another." See 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). The ACCA defines "serious drug offense" as, among other things, "an offense under State law, involving manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture or distribute, a controlled substance" and "for which a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more is prescribed by law." Id. § 924(e)(2)(A)(ii).1
On appeal, Gardner does not dispute that his two 2014 Alabama convictions for first degree unlawful possession of marijuana for other than personal use and his 2015 Alabama conviction for unlawful distribution of a controlled substance were committed on different occasions and are all offenses under state law involving the manufacture, distribution, or possession with intent to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance. The only issue is whether for these three drug offenses "a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more is prescribed by law."
This Court applies a categorical approach to determine whether the defendant's prior conviction was for an offense for which a "maximum term of imprisonment" of ten years or more was "prescribed by law." McCarthy v. United States , 135 F.3d 754, 756-57 (11th Cir. 1998). In doing so, we "look to the maximum sentence for the offense category" and not to "the particular sentence" the defendant received or to the "particular facts of the defendant's crime." Id. at 757 (footnote omitted).
Under Alabama law in effect at the time of Gardner's 2014 and 2015 convictions, the statutory maximum prison sentence was governed by the felony offense classification of Classes A, B and C. See Ala. Code § 13A-5-6 (2006). The statutory maximum for the offense of first-degree unlawful possession of marijuana for other than personal use, a Class C felony, was "not more than 10 years." Ala. Code §§ 13A-12-213(a)(1)-(2), 13A-5-6(a)(3) (2006). The statutory maximum for an unlawful distribution of a controlled substance offense, a Class B felony, was "not more than 20 years." Ala. Code §§ 13A-12-211(a) - (b), 13A-5-6(a)(2) (2006).
In addition, under the version of Alabama's habitual offender statute in effect at the time, a defendant convicted of a Class C felony who had a prior felony conviction was punished for a Class B felony, i.e., not more than twenty years. Ala. Code §§ 13A-5-6(a)(2), 13A-5-9(a)(1) (2006). A defendant convicted of a Class B felony who had three prior felony convictions was subject to a term of not less than 20 years and up to life imprisonment. Ala. Code § 13A-5-9(c)(2) (2006).
On appeal, it is undisputed that each of Gardner's offenses of conviction carried a statutory maximum prison term of ten years or more under Alabama's felony classification statute. Further, Gardner was also subject to an enhanced statutory maximum prison term as a habitual felony offender.
Since October 1, 2013, Alabama also has used presumptive sentencing standards to sentence defendants for certain nonviolent offenses. The Alabama Sentencing Commission...
To continue reading
Request your trial