Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-92-06197/USCOURTS-ca10-92-06197-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
United States of America
Appellee
Kenneth Daniel West
Appellant

Document Text:

FlL--. J~1r 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS;ted State&~~rt,1 A.-r--

lJlU rrenth C1reu1 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) 

) 

Plaintiff-Appellee, ) 

) 

v. ) 

) 

KENNETH DANIEL WEST, ) 

) 

Defendant-Appellant. ) 

f'EB O 5 1993 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

No. 92-6197 

(D.C. No. 92-56-1) 

(W. D. Okla. ) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

Before TACHA and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges, and SAFFELS, District 

Judge . * 

Kenneth Danny West pleaded guilty to possession of an 

unregistered fireann in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) and was 

sentenced to forty-one months imprisonment plus three years 

supervised release. Mr. West appeals that sentence, arguing that 

it is based on an erroneously enhanced offense level . We exercise 

jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3742 and affinn. 

On January 25, 1992, Oklahoma City police officers heard a 

gunshot while on routine patrol at the Ambassador Courts 

Apartments. The officers witnessed several young men r unning f rom 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall 

not be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, 

except for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of 

the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 

36.3. 

* The Honorable Dale E. Saffels, District Judge, United States 

District Court for the District of Kansas, sitting by designation. 

Appellate Case: 92-6197 Document: 010110166225 Date Filed: 02/05/1993 Page: 1 
the complex, one of whom indicated that he had been shot by an 

individual who was now hiding in apartment 972. The officers 

discovered Mr. West hiding in a closet in that apartment, 

clutching a sawed-off .20 gauge double-barrel shotgun. A search 

of Mr. West revealed four live rounds of ammunition and one spent 

round. 

On January 27, 1992, Special Agent Luke Franey of the Bureau 

of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms interviewed West at the Oklahoma 

County Jail. In that interview, West stated that he had been 

purchasing crack cocaine from a street gang and that he went to 

the apartment complex hoping to trade the shotgun for crack 

cocaine. 

On February 20, 1992, West and the government entered into a 

plea agreement in which West agreed to waive indictment, plead 

guilty to a one-count Information, and assist the government in 

its investigation. During a subsequent presentence interview with 

a probation officer, West admitted his addiction to crack cocaine 

and repeated that, while he had hoped to trade the shotgun for 

cocaine, the accidental discharge of the f irearm scared the drug 

dealers away. 

Based on West's admission, the probation officer prepared the 

presentence report applying a fo~r-level enhancement for the use 

or possession of a firearm in connection with another felony or 

offense as provided in U.S.S.G. § 2K2.l(b) (5). United States 

Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual, § 2K2.l(b) (5 ) (Nov. 

1992 ). The sentencing court imposed the enhancement over West's 

objection, resulting in an offense level of twenty-two . Based on 

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Appellate Case: 92-6197 Document: 010110166225 Date Filed: 02/05/1993 Page: 2 
that offense level and a criminal history category of I, the court 

sentenced West to forty-one months imprisonment plus three y e ars 

supervised release . On appeal, West contends that (1) the 

government failed to satisfy the elements of an enhancement unde r 

§ 2K2 . l (b) (5 ) ; and (2) the government violated U.S.S.G. § lBl.8 by 

using information obtained as a result of the plea agreement as 

the basis for the§ 2K2.l(b) (5) enhancement. 

Pursuant to 18 U.S . C. § 3742(e), we review the trial court's 

finding of facts underlying the sentence for clear error. United 

States v. Mays, 9 02 F.2d 1501, 1503 (10th Cir. 1990). While the 

application of the guidelines to the facts is entitled to due 

deference, United States v. Rutter, 897 F.2d 1558, 1560 (10th 

Cir.), cert. denied, 111 S. Ct. 88 (1990), we review the 

inte rpretation of the guidelines de novo, United States v . Pinedo -

Montoya, 966 F.2d 591, 595 (10th Cir. 1992) . 

We first address West's claim that the§ 5K2.l(b) (5 ) 

enhancement was improperly based on self-incriminating information 

obtained pursuant to a plea agreement. While§ 1Bl . 8(a) does 

generally prevent the government from using self-incriminating 

information provided by the defendant pursuant to a plea 

agreement, subsection (b) (1) excludes from that restriction any 

information "known to the governme nt prior to entering into the 

cooperation agreement." U.S.S.G. § 1Bl.8(b) (1); see United States 

v. Easterling, 921 F.2d 1 073, 1080 (10th Cir. 1990), cert. denied, 

111 S. Ct. 2066 (1991 ) . West does not contest that, based on his 

conversation with Agent Franey, the government knew of his desire 

to trade the shotgun for cocaine prior to entering into the ple a 

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Appellate Case: 92-6197 Document: 010110166225 Date Filed: 02/05/1993 Page: 3 
agreement. Under the plain language of§ lBl.8, the government 

was not precluded from offering this information in conjunction 

with West's sentencing . 

We now consider whether the district court properly enhanced 

West's offense level under U.S . S . G. § 2K2.l(b) (5 ). Section 

§ 2K2.l(b) (5 ) provides: 

If the defendant used or possessed any firearm or 

ammunition in connection with another felony offense; or 

possessed or transferred any firearm or ammunition with 

knowledge, intent, or reason to believe that it would be 

used or possessed in connection with another felony 

offense, increase by 4 levels. 

In this case, the defendant's own admission is ample evidence 

that, in traveling to the apartment complex with the shotgun and 

approaching drug dealers about an anticipated trade, West 

possessed the shotgun with the knowledge or reason to believe that 

it would be used or possessed in connection with another felony 

offense . 

AFFIRMED . The mandate shall issue forthwith. 

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ENTERED FOR THE COURT 

Deanell Reece Tacha 

Circuit Judge 

Appellate Case: 92-6197 Document: 010110166225 Date Filed: 02/05/1993 Page: 4