Opinion ID: 184895
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Townsend's Arguments Regarding the Fines

Text: 13 Appellant argues that it was impermissible for the court to impose $500,000 in fines in 1998 because no fines were specified in the 1994 resentencing order and the 1995 order clarifying that the original fines were still in place was improper. The court's treatment of Townsend's fines was admittedly somewhat irregular. At the original sentencing proceedings in 1989, fines totaling $600,000 were imposed. After the government moved to reduce sentence, the court in 1991 noted that it would also reconsider the amount of the fines. In 1994, when the court actually acted on the sentence reduction in an Order Modifying Sentence, it made no mention of fines. However, more than a year later, the court issued a Clarification of Order Modifying Sentence, citing confusion regarding whether Townsend's original fines were still in force and indicating that they were. 14 Townsend argues that his fines were vacated by the 1994 order and could not be resuscitated by the 1995 order. Townsend cites the language of the 1994 order, which provided that the judgment entered on January 27, 1989, be and it is hereby vacated. In Townsend's view, after the 1994 order issued, there were no fines in place. Thus, he argues, it was impermissible for the court to augment Townsend's punishment the following year by clarifying that the fines were in effect, since such a correction of the 1994 order was not within the parameters established for correcting a sentence under Fed.R.Crim.P. 35. The government, in contrast, argues that the 1994 order was addressed only to modifying the term of imprisonment and should not be read as vacating the portion of the 1989 order regarding fines. Since the government views the original fines as never having been vacated, it treats the 1995 order as making no change at all to Townsend's sentence, but simply clarifying the continued applicability of the fines. 15 We do not address the parties' differences as to the propriety of the 1995 clarifying order, but instead conclude, as the government urges with no response from appellant, that this issue is not properly before us. To be sure, Townsend has timely appealed from the 1998 order, which reimposed a portion of the complained-of fines. However, Townsend's attack on the fines imposed in 1998 is based entirely on arguments regarding the impropriety of the 1995 order. If Townsend believed that the district court acted improperly in clarifying that the fines were still in effect in its 1995 order, he could have appealed that order within the time provided under Fed. R.App. P. 4. See Browder v. Director, Dep't of Corrections of Illinois, 434 U.S. 257, 264, 98 S.Ct. 556, 54 L.Ed.2d 521 (1978) (time limits of Rule 4 are mandatory and jurisdictional). Having failed to timely appeal the 1995 order he now contests, Townsend may not properly attack it by appealing the 1998 order. Cf. United States v. Barragan-Mendoza, 174 F.3d 1024 (9th Cir.1999) (reaching issue of whether modification of sentence by district court was within court's authority under Fed.R.Crim.P. 35, but only after first determining that appeal was timely). See also United States v. Kress, 944 F.2d 155, 161 (3d Cir.1991) (where defendant failed to appeal court's earlier order denying his Rule 35 motion regarding the interest rate on restitution owed, he cannot relitigate the issue on appeal from denial of a later motion); United States v. Mendes, 912 F.2d 434, 437-48 (10th Cir.1990) (where conviction and original sentence not appealed, defendant cannot appeal conviction by appealing later resentencing); United States v. June, 503 F.2d 442, 443-45 (8th Cir.1974) (though appeal timely as to denial of motion to reduce sentence, the appeal amounted to untimely challenge to conviction itself); Yates v. United States, 308 F.2d 737, 738 (10th Cir.1962) (where conviction not appealed, defendant may not later challenge it as void and illegal in appeal from order revoking probation). 16