Opinion ID: 2708454
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wrong Base Level

Text: Wholly apart from which version of the Guidelines applies, the defendants argue further that the district court erred in determining the base offense level for the money laundering offense. They claim that the error occurred when the district court adopted the offense level recommended by the probation officer in the pre-sentence report. The offense level recommended by the probation officer was one level too high, they contend, because the agent erroneously set the base level for the money laundering offense at seven as opposed to six. After adding in the other applicable adjustments, the probation officer recommended an offense level of 33 for Janet and 37 for Nelson. Neither party objected, and the district court therefore adopted the probation officer’s recommendations for its guideline calculation. Reducing the offense level by one would have resulted in a lower sentence range of 121 to 151 months for Janet and 188 to 235 months for Nelson. The defendants contend that this error alone amounts to plain error and requires that their sentences be vacated. The government concedes that the district court erred in calculating the offense level on the conspiracy counts, but argues that relief is unavailable since the defendants waived their right to appeal their sentences on the conspiracy counts. As we have already pointed out, however, because the failure 30 Nos. 12-3748, 12-3750, 12-3781, and 12-3787 to appear offenses were grouped with the conspiracy counts, any error in the offense level calculation for those offenses would infect the court’s sentence determination for the failure to appear. We therefore do not consider their rights to appeal the issue waived. But it does not necessarily follow that they are entitled to relief. This Court generally “review[s] the district court’s application of the Sentencing Guidelines de novo and its factual findings for clear error.” United States v. Jumah, 599 F.3d 799, 811 (7th Cir. 2010). But where, as here, a sentencing argument is raised for the first time on appeal, this Court’s review is for plain error. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(b) (“A plain error that affects substantial rights may be considered even though it was not brought to the court’s attention.”). Plain error is a rigorous standard. United States v. Orr, 622 F.3d 864, 868 (7th Cir. 2010). Under this rule, we may, in our discretion “correct an error not raised at trial only where the appellant demonstrates that (1) there is an error; (2) the error is clear or obvious, rather than subject to reasonable dispute; (3) the error affected the appellant’s substantial rights, which in the ordinary case means it affected the outcome of the district court proceedings; and (4) the error seriously affects the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” United States v. Marcus, 560 U.S. 258, 262 (2010) (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted). We find no plain error here that was not otherwise waived. As we have explained, the Hallahans waived their right to appeal from the sentences imposed on the conspiracy counts. Thus, the question before us here is whether the error in calculating the guideline affected the sentences imposed for Nos. 12-3748, 12-3750, 12-3781, and 12-3787 31 their failure to appear. We conclude that it did not. The district court imposed low-end Guideline sentences on each of the Hallahans for the conspiracy counts and consecutive 60-month sentences on the failure to appear counts, based primarily on the fact that they had fled to avoid justice for twelve years. There is no reason to believe that the imposition of the consecutive sentences for the failure to appear were affected by the one-level error in calculating the offense severity score. The fact that Janet and Nelson each received the same 60-month consecutive sentence for failure to appear, notwithstanding the fact that they had Guideline ranges that differed significantly strongly suggests that the error did not affect their sentences for that offense. Under these circumstances, we cannot say that the error “seriously affected the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” Marcus, 560 U.S. at 262. We therefore conclude no plain error has been shown. C. Imposition of Sentence for Failure to Appear The defendants also argue that the district court failed to properly follow the Guidelines procedure for imposing the sentences on the failure to appear counts. Rather than determine the total sentence and then apportion it between the underlying conspiracy offenses and the offense of failure to appear as the Guidelines Manual directs, they contend that the district court simply imposed a low end of the guideline sentence for the conspiracy offenses and then imposed an additional five years for the failure to appear. They also note that the probation officer who prepared the pre-sentence reports failed to even include a separate guideline calculation for the failure to appear count in his report. A proper calculation would have shown that the guideline range for that 32 Nos. 12-3748, 12-3750, 12-3781, and 12-3787 offense alone was between 12 and 18 months. Although they concede that the guideline range for the money laundering conspiracy provided the total sentence range for all three offenses, the defendants contend that by failing to include the individual calculation for the failure to appear, the probation officer failed to provide the district court with essential guidance as to that offense. This, they contend, also constitutes plain error that requires their sentences be vacated. We reject the defendants’ arguments that the district court failed to properly apply § 2J1.6 and that the failure to calculate a separate sentencing range for the failure to appear offense amounts to plain error. Although the pre-sentence report may not have demonstrated a clear understanding of the failure to appear guideline, the district court certainly did. In its sentencing comments, the court explained that it recognized that the advisory guideline ranges for the defendants reflected an adjustment for their failure to appear and that the range was intended to encompass the total punishment the defendants were to receive for all of the offenses. The court specifically acknowledged that it was to apportion part of the total sentence it decided to impose on the underlying offenses and part on the offense of failure to appear. The court also recognized, however, that it could impose a sentence above the guideline range if it concluded such sentence was appropriate upon consideration of the factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553. Because of the aggravating circumstances of the crimes and, in particular, the fact that “for 12 years these hundreds of trusting people were denied justice,” the court concluded that a variance was warranted. The court therefore sentenced Janet Nos. 12-3748, 12-3750, 12-3781, and 12-3787 33 to 195 months and Nelson to 270 months, each representing five years above the low end of their respective guidelines. The defendants contend, however, that the district court failed to adequately explain how it arrived at the total sentences it imposed. They note that the court failed to tie the 60month sentence it imposed on the failure to appear counts to the guideline range that would have applied for that offense alone. They also contend that the court showed no recognition that the calculated guideline range for all three offenses already included a two-level enhancement for their failure to appear. These errors, the defendants argue, were prejudicial and seriously affect the fairness, integrity and public reputation of the judicial proceedings. We disagree. First, we note it is simply not true that the district court failed to recognize that the guideline range it calculated for the entire group of offenses included a two-level enhancement for their failure to appear. As noted above, the court gave explicit recognition of this fact in its sentencing comments. It is true that the court did not consider a separate guideline range for the failure to appear counts alone. But as the defendants acknowledge, the guideline for that offense by itself played no role in determining the applicable guideline range in this case because their failure to appear offenses were grouped with the conspiracy counts. True, we have said that when a court imposes an above guideline sentence for an additional crime that is already factored into the guideline range “it is wise to see how much incremental punishment the Sentencing Commission recommends.” United States v. Kirkpatrick, 589 F.3d 414, 416 (7th Cir. 2009). But we have never said that a district court’s failure to consider a guideline range 34 Nos. 12-3748, 12-3750, 12-3781, and 12-3787 that does not directly apply constitutes reversible error by itself. In Kirkpatrick, the district court imposed a sentence that was more than double the top of the guideline range for possession of a firearm by a felon based on the fact that the defendant had lied to investigating officers. Id. at 415. Given the amount of the variance, we held that the sentencing court had a greater duty to tie its sentence to the Guidelines. Here, the variance was far less, only 16% over the top end of the guideline range for Janet and even less for Nelson. The aggravating factors highlighted by the district court adequately justified the upward adjustments it imposed. In its sentencing comments, the district court noted that the victims of the defendants’ fraud were neither wealthy nor sophisticated, and many were elderly. The money they lost was their life savings that they intended as a loan to someone they regarded as a friend, not an investment with attendant risk. But the truly aggravating factor that warranted the upward variance, the court explained, was the fact that the defendants had avoided the consequences of their crimes for twelve years. Not only did they fail to accept responsibility, they escaped responsibility. The court noted that “for 12 years these hundreds of trusting people were denied justice.” As the court observed, the defendants not only stole their victims’ money, but then stole their right to a sense of justice for the wrong they had suffered, particularly as to those victims who died before the defendants were apprehended. We also note that by absconding, the defendants “flouted the judicial process and interfered with the efficient operation of the courts.” United States v. Morgan, 254 F.3d 424, 427 (2d Cir. 2001). As we explained in United States v. Elliott where the Nos. 12-3748, 12-3750, 12-3781, and 12-3787 35 defendant had been a fugitive for almost 15 years, “the law’s deterrent and retributive effect can be maintained, in the event of prolonged fugitive status, only by substantial incremental penalties.” 467 F.3d 688, 692 (7th Cir. 2006). There, we noted, “[e]ven imposing the statutory maximum of 10 years for Elliott’s failure-to-report offense would not bring the law’s deterrent power in 2004 up to what it would have been had Elliott reported as required in 1989.” Id. Given the number of years the defendants were able avoid the prison sentences they knew they had earned, the failure to appear guideline range, by itself, would have provided little guidance to the sentencing court in arriving at a just sentence. The district court’s failure to consider it under these circumstances does not amount to plain error. D. Substantive Reasonableness Finally, we turn to Janet Hallahan’s contention that the district court’s above-guideline 195-month sentence was substantively unreasonable. “We ‘will uphold an above-guidelines sentence so long as the district court offered an adequate statement of its reasons, consistent with 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), for imposing such a sentence.’ There is no presumption that a sentence outside the guidelines’ range is unreasonable.” United States v. Aldridge, 642 F.3d 537, 544 (7th Cir. 2011) (quoting United States v. McIntyre, 531 F.3d 481, 483 (7th Cir. 2008)). It is also not enough that we “might reasonably have concluded that a different sentence was appropriate … .” Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). “Because the district court has greater familiarity with the case and the individual defendant and therefore an institutional advantage over an appellate court in making sentencing determinations, we must 36 Nos. 12-3748, 12-3750, 12-3781, and 12-3787 defer, absent an abuse of discretion, to its ruling.” Id. at 790. “An above-guidelines sentence is more likely to be reasonable if it is based on factors sufficiently particularized to the individual circumstances of the case rather than factors common to offenders with like crimes.” United States v. Jackson, 547 F.3d 786, 792–93 (7th Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). First, to the extent that Janet Hallahan’s challenge to the substantive reasonableness of her sentence relates to the conspiracy and underlying fraud, the appellate waiver acts as a bar to her arguments. Second, as to the permissible arguments regarding her life as a fugitive, which she describes as free of crime and without wealth, as well as other mitigating facts like her age, her argument that the district court did not consider these facts is inconsistent with the record. Specifically, the district explained that while Janet and Nelson Hallahan “have suffered also from the absence of family connections, living a hunted life, that’s of their choosing. They have chose [sic] to live this way. They could have stopped it at any moment, initially by not leaving or by returning at any time during the past 12 years.” The court also emphasized that “[Janet] chose to turn her back on the family overtures and to stay on the run.” The district court also considered the age of Janet Hallahan, 55 at the time, noting “some sympathy for sentencing anyone in the winter of their life to prison for long terms when they should be at home with their grandchildren and family.” In addition, the district court considered the testimony of the victims, the nature of the offense, her violation of the trusting relationships with the victims, the length of the flight from justice, and the effect that flight had on the victims. Nos. 12-3748, 12-3750, 12-3781, and 12-3787 37 We are convinced that the district court considered the factors in § 3553(a) and adequately articulated its decision to impose an above-guideline sentence. Janet Hallahan obviously disagrees with the district court’s sentence, and would place the emphasis on other facts, but she has not demonstrated that the district court failed to justify the magnitude of the variance. We find no abuse of discretion in sentencing her to 195 months of imprisonment. Cf. United States v. Stinefast, 724 F.3d 925, 932–33 (7th Cir. 2013) (upholding 216-month sentence where the guideline range was 121 to 151 months); United States v. Taylor, 701 F.3d 1166, 1174–75 (7th Cir. 2012) (upholding 480month sentence where the guideline range was 262 to 327 months); United States v. Abebe, 651 F.3d 653, 656 (7th Cir. 2011) (upholding 300-month sentence where the guideline range was 84 to 105 months); United States v. Ellis, 622 F.3d 784, 800 (7th Cir. 2010) (upholding 90-month sentence where the guideline range was 46 to 57 months); United States v. McKinney, 543 F.3d 911, 912–14 (7th Cir. 2008) (upholding 293-month sentence where the guideline range was 188 to 235 months).