Source: https://openjurist.org/993/f2d/187
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 22:09:47
Document Index: 161737768

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

993 F2d 187 United States v. Henderson | OpenJurist
993 F. 2d 187 - United States v. Henderson
993 F2d 187 United States v. Henderson
993 F.2d 187
Ronald Kaye HENDERSON, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 92-10193.
* Departure from the Sentencing Guidelines is reviewed de novo. Williams v. United States, --- U.S. ----, ----, 112 S.Ct. 1112, 1120, 117 L.Ed.2d 341 (1992). Under Williams, we must first determine whether the sentence was in violation of law or an incorrect application of the guidelines; second, we must determine whether the departure was unreasonably high or low from the relevant guideline. Id.
We review guideline departures under a three part test. United States v. Lira-Barraza, 941 F.2d 745 (9th Cir.1991) (en banc). First, we must determine if the district court had legal grounds to depart. The district court may depart from the guidelines only if it identifies an aggravating circumstance not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission. Id. at 746. Second, we review the factual findings of the district court for clear error. Id. Finally, we review the extent of the departure for reasonableness "in light of the structure, standards and policies of the Act and Guidelines." Id. at 751.
The district court must explain the reasoning for both the direction and degree of the departure in sufficiently specific language to allow appellate review. Id. We "do not search the record for permissible reasons for departure; instead, we analyze the reasons actually given by the district court." United States v. Montenegro-Rojo, 908 F.2d 425, 428 (9th Cir.1990).
The district court must have legal grounds for departure from the guidelines. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3 permits a sentencing court to consider upward departure when a defendant's criminal history category does not adequately reflect the seriousness of the defendant's past criminal conduct. "The guidelines anticipate that departure will be rare. A factor already calculated into a sentence under the guidelines may not be a proper basis for departure." United States v. Hernandez-Vasquez, 884 F.2d 1314, 1315 (9th Cir.1989) (citations omitted).
A. Violence of Prior Criminal Conduct
The Seventh Circuit recently rejected an upward departure based on the nature of a defendant's prior criminal conduct. In United States v. Morrison, 946 F.2d 484 (7th Cir.1991), cert. denied sub nom., Anderson v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 826, 121 L.Ed.2d 696 (1992), the district court based its upward departure on the fact that one of defendant's prior convictions was a brutal execution style murder. The Seventh Circuit ruled that this was an inappropriate ground for departure because the defendant already received criminal history points for the prior conviction under § 4A1.1.
"[A]n upward departure may be warranted when the defendant has committed crimes or conduct that the criminal history calculation instructions ... fail specifically to consider." Morrison, 946 F.2d at 496 (citations omitted); U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3. The nonexclusive list of upward departure situations in § 4A1.3 includes foreign convictions (§ 4A1.3(a)), consolidated sentences that are the consequence of a series of serious offenses (§ 4A1.3(b)), misconduct established by civil or administrative adjudication (§ 4A1.3(c)), defendant pending trial, sentencing, or appeal on another charge at time of instant offense (§ 4A1.3(d)), and prior criminal conduct not resulting in a conviction (§ 4A1.3(e)). See United States v. Gayou, 901 F.2d 746, 748 (9th Cir.1990) (affirming upward departure based on grounds found in § 4A1.3(c), (d), and (e)).
The government claims that the aggravating circumstance not taken adequately into account by the guidelines is one of timing. In this circuit, the crime of being a felon in possession of a firearm was a crime of violence prior to November 1, 1989. United States v. Sahakian, 965 F.2d 740 (9th Cir.1992). At the same time the Sentencing Commission changed § 4B1.2, it also increased the base offense levels for firearms offenses (U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1).
A district court applies the version of guidelines in effect on date of sentencing except where amendments create an ex post facto problem. When an ex post facto problem does appear, the court sentences the defendant under the version of the guidelines in effect at the time of the offense--in its entirety. United States v. Warren, 980 F.2d 1300, 1304 (9th Cir.1992). Henderson committed the offense on May 31, 1990; under the 1989 guidelines, Henderson has a total offense level of 10 and a criminal history category of IV (nine criminal history points). The applicable guideline range is 15 to 21 months. Timing cannot justify the upward departure to 37 months imposed by the district court.