Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/898/119/70002/
Timestamp: 2020-08-04 21:15:20
Document Index: 286135875

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 841', '§ 994', '§ 841', '§ 841', '§ 994', '§ 994']

United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Willie Taw Newsome, Defendant-appellant, 898 F.2d 119 (10th Cir. 1990) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Tenth Circuit › 1990 › United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Willie Taw Newsome, Defendant-appellant
United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Willie Taw Newsome, Defendant-appellant, 898 F.2d 119 (10th Cir. 1990)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit - 898 F.2d 119 (10th Cir. 1990) March 12, 1990. Rehearing Denied May 21, 1990
Defendant-appellant Willie Taw Newsome entered a plea of guilty to possession of approximately 299.3 grams of marijuana with intent to distribute, Count Two of a two-count indictment, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) (1). He now appeals the sentence he received pursuant to the Career Offender provisions of the United States Sentencing Commission Guidelines. He argues that the district court1 erroneously classified him as a career offender and that his sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. We affirm.
We first address Appellant's contention that the district court erroneously classified him as a career offender, thereby increasing his Guideline sentence range from six to twelve months to fifty-one to sixty-three months. This presents a question of law and is subject to our de novo review. United States ex rel. Bergen v. Lawrence, 848 F.2d 1502, 1505 (10th Cir. 1988), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S. Ct. 528, 102 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1988); Murphy v. Turner, 426 F.2d 422, 423 (10th Cir. 1970).
28 U.S.C. § 994(h) (Supp. IV 1986) (footnote omitted). The Commission implemented this legislative mandate through the Career Offender provisions of the Guidelines, which provide in relevant part that:
There is no language whatsoever in the statute or the guideline that requires the present felony to be of the same nature, a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense, as the previous felony convictions. The requirement is that the felonies, present and prior, be crimes of violence or controlled substance offenses, in any combination. United States v. Jones, 898 F.2d 1461, 1464 (10th Cir. Mar. 12, 1990). We decline to enmesh ourselves in an analysis of legislative history, as the statute is unequivocally clear on its face. Lawrence, 848 F.2d at 1509 (declining to narrow the applicability of a statute as "the language of the statute is clear"); United States v. O'Brien, 686 F.2d 850, 852 (10th Cir. 1982) (" [E]xcept in rare circumstances,3 a statute which is clear and unambiguous on its face must be given effect according to its plain meaning without reference to legislative history."); Jones v. Intermountain Power Project, 794 F.2d 546, 552 (10th Cir. 1986) ("If a statute is clear on its face, there is no necessity to look to legislative history."); United States v. Western P.R.R., 385 F.2d 161, 163 (10th Cir. 1967) ("An unambiguous statute must be given effect according to its plain and obvious meaning."), cert. denied, Denver & R.G.W.R.R. v. United States, 391 U.S. 919, 88 S. Ct. 1805, 20 L. Ed. 2d 656 (1968).
Having found that Newsome was properly sentenced as a career offender, we turn now to his contention that his sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Eighth Amendment prohibits barbaric punishment and sentences disproportionate to the crime committed. Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 284, 103 S. Ct. 3001, 3006, 77 L. Ed. 2d 637 (1983); United States v. Gourley, 835 F.2d 249, 252 (10th Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 486 U.S. 1010, 108 S. Ct. 1741, 100 L. Ed. 2d 204 (1988). Newsome claims that the Career Offender provisions as applied to the facts of his case resulted in disproportionately severe punishment.
The statutory maximum sentence for Newsome's violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a) (1) is five years. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b) (1) (D). We do not consider his sentence under the Career Offenders provisions of the Sentencing Guidelines as disproportionately severe when compared to the statutory maximum, the concerns of Congress and society about drugs and career offenders, the circumstances of the crime, and Newsome's criminal history. Furthermore, none of the cases discussed by Newsome, whether finding the sentence to be unconstitutional or constitutional, provides support for his position: Solem, 463 U.S. 277, 103 S. Ct. 3001 (life imprisonment without possibility of parole as recidivist for $100 bad check following six prior convictions for non-violent property crimes held unconstitutional); Hutto v. Davis, 454 U.S. 370, 102 S. Ct. 703, 70 L. Ed. 2d 556 (1982) (per curiam) (twenty-year sentence for possession of nine ounces of marijuana with intent to distribute held constitutional); Rummel v. Estelle, 445 U.S. 263, 100 S. Ct. 1133, 63 L. Ed. 2d 382 (1980) (life sentence as recidivist on conviction for third felony for obtaining $120.75 by false pretenses held constitutional); Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S. Ct. 2726, 33 L. Ed. 2d 346 (1972) (per curiam) (death penalty held unconstitutional, but only for the cases considered); Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 78 S. Ct. 590, 2 L. Ed. 2d 630 (1958) (loss of citizenship for wartime desertion lasting one day held unconstitutional); and Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349, 30 S. Ct. 544, 54 L. Ed. 793 (1910) (sentence under Philippine law to Cadena Temporal--15 years at "hard and painful labor," chained from ankle to wrists; permanent loss of political rights; and police surveillance for life for falsification of public documents in the amount of 716 pesos held unconstitutional).
Appellant has provided this Court with one reference to the legislative history of 28 U.S.C. § 994(h). S.Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong., 2d Sess. 175, reprinted in 1984 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad. News 3182, 3358
Such circumstances require that the plain meaning of the statute lead to absurd results "so gross as to shock the general moral or common sense [; a]nd there must be something to make plain the intent of Congress that the letter of the statute is not to prevail." Crooks v. Harrelson, 282 U.S. 55, 60, 51 S. Ct. 49, 50, 75 L. Ed. 156 (1930) (citation omitted). Neither the results obtained under 28 U.S.C. § 994(h), sentencing career offenders "to a term at or near the maximum term authorized," nor Newsome's sentence of fifty-one months are absurd. Nor do they shock the general moral or common sense