Source: http://openjurist.org/print/561644
Timestamp: 2015-03-30 20:14:27
Document Index: 238033602

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 846', '§ 841', '§ 2', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 4', '§ 2', '§ 4']

406 F3d 839 United States v. Ngo
406 F3d 839 United States v. Ngo 406 F.3d 839
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,v.Tek NGO, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 04-2662.
Alan G. Habermehl (argued), Kelly & Habermehl, Madison, WI, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before CUDAHY, WOOD and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
Tek Ngo appeals his sentence of 210 months on the ground that the district court violated the Sixth Amendment by sentencing him as a career offender without presenting the facts underlying his prior convictions to a jury. He also argues, and the government concedes, that in light of the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Booker, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), the district court erred in applying the guidelines under the prior mandatory sentencing scheme. Because the district court engaged in factfinding beyond what is permitted under the exception for "the fact of a prior conviction," we remand the case pursuant to United States v. Paladino, 401 F.3d 471, 484 (7th Cir.2005), for the limited purpose of determining whether the district court's choice of sentence would have been different had it known that the application of the sentencing guidelines was not mandatory.
In April 2004 a jury found Ngo guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1), and distributing methamphetamine, id. § 841(a)(1). The presentence investigation report (PSR), prepared using the November 2003 guidelines, recommended a base offense level of 32 based on the quantity of drugs encompassed by Ngo's relevant conduct. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(4). The PSR further recommended that Ngo be sentenced as a career offender under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, based upon two prior convictions for armed robbery.
Ngo filed several written objections to the PSR. He first argued that he was not a career offender because his two armed robbery convictions were "related" and thus counted as just one prior conviction instead of the two needed to trigger the career offender guideline. See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(a)(2) ("Prior sentences imposed in unrelated cases are to be counted separately. Prior sentences imposed in related cases are to be treated as one sentence."); id., cmt. n. 3 (defining "related" cases); see also U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(c) ("prior convictions" under § 4B1.2 include only those counted separately under § 4A1.1 and § 4A1.2). Next he argued that his criminal history category was III, not IV, if the career offender guideline did not apply. Ngo also objected to the drug quantity calculation in the PSR on the ground that it was based on information from unreliable sources. He did not advance any argument based on the Sixth Amendment or Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000).
At sentencing on June 23, 2004, the district court rejected the recommendation in the PSR and calculated a drug quantity that yielded a base offense level of 28 under § 2D1.1(c)(4). But this conclusion ultimately did not factor into Ngo's sentence because the court found that Ngo's prior armed robbery convictions were not consolidated for sentencing or part of a common scheme or plan and thus sentenced him as a career offender. As a career offender, Ngo's total offense level was 32 and his criminal history category a VI, see U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, resulting in a guideline range of 210 to 240 months. The court sentenced Ngo to 210 months' imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and $200 in criminal assessments. The court noted that a sentence at the bottom of the guideline range was "sufficient to hold defendant accountable for his criminal actions and to protect the community."
In his opening appellate brief, Ngo argued that under Blakely v. Washington, ___ U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), and United States v. Booker, 375 F.3d 508 (7th Cir.2004), his sentence violates the Sixth Amendment because the district court made factual findings by a preponderance of the evidence that increased his gui