United States v. Lanier
| Docket Number | 21-5619 |
| Decision Date | 03 August 2023 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. COREY LAMONT LANIER, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
Before: GIBBONS, BUSH, and MATHIS, Circuit Judges.
GIBBONS, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which MATHIS, J., joined in full and BUSH, J., joined except as to Section IV. BUSH, J. (pp. 27-31), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
A jury convicted Corey Lanier of three counts of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a) and three counts of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C § 924(c). Lanier was sentenced to 946 months' imprisonment. But after the Supreme Court invalidated the residual clause of § 924(c), Lanier's § 924(c) convictions were vacated, and he returned to the district court for resentencing. The district court imposed a new sentence of 360 months' imprisonment, and Lanier appeals. For the reasons set forth below, we vacate Lanier's sentence and remand for resentencing.
Over the course of several months in 2009, Corey Lanier, along with other individuals, planned and executed armed robberies that targeted known drug dealers in the Nashville area. In the robberies, Lanier and his associates gained access to the targets' homes and demanded money and other valuables at gunpoint.
In one robbery, Lanier and three other men forcibly entered the home of Ryan McGuire, demanded money, and forced McGuire to crawl on the floor to the bedroom with a gun pointed at the back of his head. After discovering McGuire's girlfriend and children in the bathroom, the intruders also demanded money from McGuire's girlfriend. The children, seeing their father crawling along the floor, pled for his life. One of the robbers suggested that they should shoot the McGuire in front of his children, but the men ultimately left without doing so after taking $15,000 in cash and a laptop computer.
In another robbery, Lanier recruited three men to target the home of Markeith Davis. Lanier drove the group to the house and then waited in the car while the other men forcibly entered the home. Davis was not there, however, and the intruders found only two women, Tamika Beard and Lakeya Northern, an additional adult, and four young children. The men held a gun to Beard's neck, forced the children to go to and remain in one of the back rooms, and demanded firearms from the adults. The men then forced Northern to another room at gunpoint, where they discovered and grabbed drugs. At various times, the men pointed their weapons at the victims and told them not to move, and at one point, they threw Northern to the floor. The men eventually fled with three to four ounces of crack cocaine and several thousand dollars in cash.
In the final robbery, Lanier identified the target, Angela Rogan, because Lanier had been told that she would have a large amount of money that her husband left when he went to federal prison. Lanier organized the robbery but did not directly participate because he feared that the victims would be able to identify him. Lanier's coconspirators posed as potential buyers of two vans that Rogan was trying to sell, and when they went to her home ostensibly to complete the sale, the men pulled out guns and announced that it was a robbery. The men held Rogan and her son at gunpoint, dragging her around the house and hitting her with the gun while demanding to know where the money was located. Eventually, an acquaintance of Rogan's called the police, and the men were arrested.
Based on this conduct, Lanier was charged in a six-count indictment. For each of the three robberies, Lanier was charged with two counts-conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). A jury convicted Lanier on all counts.
In advance of Lanier's sentencing, the Probation Office prepared a Presentence Investigation Report ("PSR"). For the Hobbs Act conspiracy counts, the PSR calculated a total offense level of 32[1] and a criminal history category of VI, which yielded an advisory range of 210 to 262 months.
At sentencing, Lanier moved for a departure or downward variance on the Hobbs Act counts, arguing that the mandatory minimum for the § 924(c) counts already imposed what effectively amounted to a life sentence. The court denied Lanier's motion and sentenced him at the top of the advisory range. For the convictions under § 924(c), the court ordered the sentences to run consecutively, as required by statute. The court imposed a total sentence of 946 months' imprisonment, with 262 months on the Hobbs Act counts,[2] to be followed by terms of 84 months, 300 months, and 300 months on the § 924(c) counts.
Lanier unsuccessfully challenged his convictions on direct appeal. He then moved to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Lanier argued, among other things, that his § 924(c) convictions were invalid under Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. 591 (2015), because they were based on Hobbs Act conspiracy, which did not satisfy the force clause of § 924(c)(3)(A). After the Supreme Court invalidated the residual clause of § 924(c)(3)(B) in United States v. Davis, 139 S.Ct. 2319 (2019), the district court vacated Lanier's § 924(c) convictions and ordered that he be resentenced.
For Lanier's resentencing, the Probation Office prepared a new PSR. The revised PSR calculated a total offense level of 38 and a criminal history category of VI, resulting in a Guidelines range of 360 months to life imprisonment. The offense level was based on Count Three because that count carried the highest offense level at 35.[3] The PSR then applied a three-level multi-count enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 3D1.4, resulting in the final level of 38. The government did not file any objections. Lanier, proceeding pro se with the help of appointed elbow counsel, raised objections to various aspects of the new PSR. Relevant here, Lanier objected to several enhancements recommended by the PSR as well as the consecutive nature of the sentences.
The first enhancement to which Lanier objected was a two-level vulnerable victim enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 3A1.1(b)(1). The original PSR did not recommend this enhancement, and the government raised no objection to its nonapplication at Lanier's original sentencing. The revised PSR explained that the enhancement applied because four young children were present at the robbery underlying Count 3. The PSR added the recommendation even though the facts supporting the enhancement were known at the original sentencing and there were no applicable intervening changes in the Guidelines or caselaw. The resentencing judge overruled Lanier's objection and applied the enhancement.[4]
The second enhancement to which Lanier objected was a two-level enhancement under § 2B3.1(b)(4)(B) for "physically restrain[ing]" a person to facilitate the commission of the robbery or to facilitate escape.[5] The PSR applied this enhancement based on the finding that Lakeya Northern was forced to move at gunpoint so that the men could locate and take drugs. The court overruled Lanier's objection and applied the enhancement.
The final enhancement to which Lanier objected was a six-level enhancement under § 2B3.1(b)(2)(B), for "otherwise us[ing]" a firearm during the robbery. The PSR explained that the enhancement applied because "during the robbery, a gun was held to Tamika Beard's neck, and the robbers held Tamika Beard and Lakeya Northern at gunpoint and told them not to move." DE 345, 2020 PSR, Page ID 3118. The original PSR had not applied this enhancement because the § 924(c) counts, which punished the use of a firearm, precluded the application of additional specific offense characteristics for possession, brandishing, use, or discharge of a firearm. The court again overruled Lanier's objection and applied the enhancement.
After applying all of the recommended enhancements, the district court went on to agree with the PSR's calculation of Lanier's criminal history points and criminal history category. Using the total offense level of 38 and criminal history category of VI, the court calculated a Guidelines range of 360 months to life imprisonment.
Finally, the court addressed the 18 U.S.C. § 3553 factors. It first acknowledged that Lanier had a history of childhood abuse and grew up in a "somewhat dangerous environment." DE 342, Resent. Tr., Page ID 3078. The court also noted the national disparity factor. Although Lanier had submitted documentation of fifty Hobbs Act robbery and conspiracy sentences, the court commented only that Lanier presented a "disparity argument" without engaging in any extended analysis. Id. at 3077.
The court then sentenced Lanier to 360 months' imprisonment, the low end of the Guidelines range. The court structured the sentence as 98 months for Count One, 240 months for Count Three, and 22 months for Count Five. The court then stated that the sentences would "run consecutively as required under Section 5G1.2(d) of the guidelines." DE 342, Resent. Tr., at Page ID 3079. After the court announced the sentence, Lanier objected to running the sentences consecutively but did not state a specific basis for his objection, saying only, "I object to the consecutive sentences."[6] Id. at Page ID 3087. The court overruled Lanier's objection. Id.
On appeal, Lanier argues that his sentence is both procedurally and...
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