USA v. Gigley

• Decision Date: 17 May 2000
• Docket Number: Nos. 99-3025,99-3049,99-3048,99-3062,s. 99-3025
• Citation: 213 F.3d 503
• Parties: (10th Cir. 2000) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee and Cross-Appellant v. CHERYL MARIE GIGLEY, Defendant-Appellant and Cross-Appellee. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellant and Cross-Appellee, v. CHERYL MARIE GIGLEY, Defendant-Appellee and Cross-Appellant. Filed
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 503

213 F.3d 503 (10th Cir. 2000)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee and Cross-Appellant v. CHERYL MARIE GIGLEY, Defendant-Appellant and Cross-Appellee.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellant and Cross-Appellee, v. CHERYL MARIE GIGLEY, Defendant-Appellee and Cross-Appellant.

Nos. 99-3025, 99-3062, 99-3048, 99-3049

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS, FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT

Filed May 17, 2000

APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS

Tom G. Luedke, Assistant United States Attorney (Jackie N. Williams, United States Attorney, with him on the brief), Topeka, Kansas, for Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

Marilyn M. Trubey, Assistant Federal Public Defender (David J. Phillips, Federal Public Defender, with her on the brief), Topeka, Kansas, for Defendant-Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

Before BALDOCK, HENRY, and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

ORDER

BALDOCK, Circuit Judge.

These matters are before the court to correct an error in the issuance of the panel's opinions on March 24, 2000. Through clerical error, a dissent prepared by Judge Robert H. Henry was not attached to the disposition of appeal numbers 99-3049 and 99-3062. Consequently, we recall the mandates in appeal numbers 99-3025, 99-3048, 99-3049 and 99-3062, issued on April 17, 2000 and vacate the court's original judgments in these appeals. The court's opinion in 99-3049 and 99-3062, with the dissent included, is attached to this order and is reissued today. Also, the court's opinion in 99-3025 and 99-3048 is, without change, separately reissued today.

The mandates in all four appeals shall reissue forthwith.

OPINION

Defendant Cheryl Marie Gigley pled guilty to failure to appear as required by the conditions of her release in violation of 18 U.S.C. 3146(a)(2). The district court sentenced her to 18 months imprisonment to run partially concurrently with her sentence on the underlying offense of methamphetamine possession. The Government appeals the district court's imposition of a partially concurrent sentence. Defendant cross-appeals, arguing that the district court erred in failing to group the offenses for sentencing. Our jurisdiction arises under 28 U.S.C. 1291 and 18 U.S.C. 3742. We remand for resentencing.

I.

In the companion case, Defendant pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841. Defendant failed to appear for sentencing and was charged with failure to appear in this case. After she was apprehended, Defendant pled guilty to failure to appear. In the drug case, the district court relied on the quantity of methamphetamine mixture to find a base offense level of 30 and sentenced Defendant to 120 months imprisonment. We remanded for resentencing based on the amount of pure methamphetamine. United States v. Gigley, 213 F.3d 509 (10th Cir.2000). In this case for failure to appear, the district court found a base offense level of 15 and sentenced Defendant to 18 months imprisonment, 12 months of which were to run concurrently with her sentence in the drug case.

On appeal, the Government argues that the district court erred in ordering 12 months of Defendant's sentence for failure to appear to run concurrently with her sentence in the companion drug case. At the sentencing hearing, the Government objected to the imposition of a partially concurrent sentence. The district court noted the objection, but made no ruling.¹

In her cross-appeal, Defendant argues that the two cases should have been grouped for sentencing. For that purpose, Defendant filed a motion to consolidate the drug case and the failure to appear case for sentencing. The district court denied the motion, stating: "The motion to combine these cases is denied and overruled, and they will be held separately." At the sentencing hearing in the drug case, Defendant again argued that the offenses should be grouped. Again, the district court made no ruling, but did not group the offenses.

II.

We review the district court's statutory interpretation de novo. Robinson v. City of Edmond, 160 F.3d 1275, 1280 (10th Cir. 1998). We also review its application of the sentencing guidelines to the facts de novo. United States v. Roberts, 183 F.3d 1125, 1144 (10th Cir. 1999). Under 18 U.S.C. 3146(b)(2), the district court is to impose the sentence for failure to appear consecutively to the sentence for the underlying offense: "A term of imprisonment imposed [for failure to appear] shall be consecutive to the sentence of imprisonment for any other offense." Id. When a defendant is convicted of both the failure to appear and the underlying offense, the failure to appear offense is treated as an obstruction of the underlying offense under U.S.S.G. 3C1.1. Id. at 2J1.6 comment. (n.3); United States v. Lacey, 969 F.2d 926, 930 (10th Cir. 1992), vacated on other grounds, 507 U.S. 901 (1993) (applying the sentencing guidelines to group the underlying offense and the failure to appear offense for sentencing).² According to the guidelines, the district court is to adjust the offense level of the underlying offense upwards by two levels for obstruction of justice. Id. at 3C1.1. The underlying offense and the failure to appear offense are then grouped pursuant to 3D1.2(c), 3D1.2 comment. (n.5). Id. at 2J1.6 comment. (n.3); Lacey, 969 F.2d at 930.³

Once the offenses are grouped, the district court is to determine the offense level of the group, set the total punishment, and impose consecutive sentences within the total punishment. The group's offense level "is the offense level . . . for the most serious of the counts comprising the group, i.e., the highest offense level of the counts in the group." Id. at 3D1.3(a). The total punishment is determined based on any applicable statutory minimums and the sentencing table in Chapter 5. Id. at 3D1.5, 5G1.2. "[T]he combined sentence must be constructed to provide a 'total punishment' that satisfies the requirements both of 5G1.2 . . . and 18 U.S.C 3146(b)(2) . . . ." Id. at 2J1.6 comment. (n.3). The sentencing guidelines provide the following illustration:

For example, where the combined applicable guideline range for both counts is 30-37 months and the court determines a "total punishment" of 36 months is appropriate, a sentence of thirty months for the underlying offense plus a consecutive six months sentence for the failure to appear count would satisfy these requirements.

Id.

The sentencing guidelines direct the district court to construct a sentence that complies with both the guideline range and the statutory requirement of consecutive sentences: "Note that the combination of this instruction and increasing the offense level for the obstructive, failure to appear conduct has the effect of ensuring an incremental, consecutive punishment for the failure to appear count, as required by 18 U.S.C. 3146(b)(2)." United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual, 2J1.6 comment. (n.3) (Nov. 1998).⁴

The district court should have grouped Defendant's drug offense and her failure to appear offense for sentencing and imposed a total punishment with consecutive sentences. See Lacey, 969 F.2d at 930 ("[I]f a defendant is convicted of one of the listed obstruction offenses as well as an underlying offense, the counts should be grouped."). The offense level of the drug charge will most likely be higher than the offense level of the failure to appear charge. Therefore, the combined offense level will be the same as the offense level of the drug charge. The district court should then find the sentencing range for the combined offense level and select a total punishment within that range. The sentences for Defendant's drug offense and her failure to appear offense are to run consecutively and add up to the total punishment.⁵

REMANDED for resentencing in accordance with this opinion.

HENRY, Circuit Judge, dissenting, in part.

The majority concludes that when a defendant is convicted of failure to appear in addition to the underlying offense, courts should group the two offenses pursuant to the Sentencing Guideline grouping rules. The grouping rules instruct the sentencing judge to determine the base offense level from the underlying offense and apply an upward adjustment based on the conviction for failure to appear. I respectfully dissent and align with our sister circuits that have held the two offenses should not be combined for sentencing. Like those circuits, I would so hold because 18 U.S.C. 3146(b)(2) expressly requires any sentence imposed for failure to appear to run consecutive to any sentence imposed for the underlying offense. See United States v. Crow Dog, 149 F.3d 847, 849 (8th Cir. 1998); United States v. Stokes, No. 96-6440, 1998 WL 13409, at *4-*5 (6th Cir. Jan. 7, 1998) (unpublished), cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1112 (1998); United States v. Packer, 70 F.3d 357, 360 (5th Cir. 1995).¹

As the majority points out, 3146 provides, "[a] term of imprisonment imposed [for failure to appear] shall be consecutive to the sentence of imprisonment for any other offense." 18 U.S.C. 3146(b)(2). The majority satisfies the consecutive sentence requirement of 3146(b)(2) by following the guideline instructions in USSG 2J1.6, comment. (n.3) and 3D1.1(b), both of which were amended in 1998 by Amendment 579. See USSG Supp. to App. C, amend. 579 (1998).

Commentary 3 to 2J1.6 instructs the sentencing judge to group the failure to appear conviction with the underlying conviction, pursuant to the guideline grouping rules, for one total punishment. See USSG 2J1.6 comment. (n.3), 3D1.2(c). Under the guideline grouping rules, this requires using the higher base offense level of the two offenses, here, the underlying offense, and using the failure to appear offense as an upward adjustment for obstruction of justice. See USSG 2J1.6 comment. (n.3), 3C1.1. The guideline commentary then instructs the sentencing judge to simply designate a portion of the total sentence as the...