Opinion ID: 3003976
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Weapons Enhancements

Text: The district court tagged Eubanks with a weapons enhancements for both Counts 12 and 14, and he claims this was an error. For Count 12, Eubanks argues that the district court improperly added four levels to his base offense level under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(D) for a dangerous weapon “otherwise used” because he hit the store owner in the head with a plastic B.B. gun during commission of the robbery. This was impermissible double counting according to Eubanks because he received an 84-month sentence for using and carrying a firearm in Count 13 pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)—the same conduct at issue in the enhancement. Thus, given that he was already punished for using a firearm, the district court could not enhance his sentence for use of the B.B. gun in the same underlying offense. The government agrees with Eubanks. Because Eubanks challenges the legal interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines and relevant statutes, we review de novo. United States v. White, 222 F.3d 363, 372 (7th Cir. 2000). 6 No. 09-1029 If a defendant is sentenced for using a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime under § 924(c), the sentencing court may not enhance the defendant’s sentence under the guidelines for the same weapon and conduct that underlie the § 924(c) conviction. White, 222 F.3d at 373; U.S.S.G. § 2K2.4, comment (n.4). And the sentence under § 924(c) accounts for all guns used in relation to the underlying offense. See White, 222 F.3d at 374 (“[B]e- cause a § 924(c) penalty accounts for all of the guns possessed, carried, or used by the defendant in relation to an underlying offense, a guidelines enhancement cannot also be imposed for use of more than one gun in the same underlying offense.”); U.S.S.G. § 2K2.4, comment (n.4) (instructing sentencing courts not to “apply any weapon enhancement in the guideline for the underlying offense” if “a co-defendant, as part of the jointly undertaken criminal activity, possessed a firearm different from the one for which the defendant was convicted under” § 924(c)). But “a defendant may receive both the § 924(c) statutory sentence and a guidelines enhancement if the enhancement and the statutory sentence are imposed for different underlying conduct.” White, 222 F.3d 373. Here, the district court held that the firearms that gave rise to the § 924(c) conviction were different than the weapon responsible for the enhancement. The district court reasoned that Eubanks’ sentence under § 924(c) was for the semi-automatic handguns possessed by the codefendants, while the enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(D) was for Eubanks’ use of the plastic B.B. gun. The district court believed this to be permissible No. 09-1029 7 because § 924(c) requires use of a firearm, and, according to 18 U.S.C. § 921, a B.B. gun is not a firearm. The district court concluded that because Eubanks could not have been sentenced under § 924(c) for using the B.B. gun, his use of the weapon was not subsumed by the § 924(c) sentence, and the four-level enhancement was proper. The problem with this analysis is that for enhancement purposes, real guns are treated as indistinguishable from fake guns. White, 222 F.3d at 375 n.7. To hold otherwise would lead to the perverse result that a defendant who uses a real gun and a fake gun in the commission of the same offense is eligible to receive a higher sentence than a defendant who used two real guns to commit the same crime. This is because the former defendant could receive both a statutory sentence under § 924(c) for the real gun and a Guidelines enhancement for the fake gun, while the latter defendant, whose conduct presents a greater risk of harm, could only receive either the statutory sentence or the Guidelines enhancement, but not both. We do not interpret the Guidelines to produce this result which is clearly contrary to their policy and purpose. Id. If we were to adopt the district court’s reasoning, Eubanks would be subject to an enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(D) for otherwise using a plastic B.B. gun, but would have been precluded from such an en- hancement if he had beat the store owner with a real firearm. Such a ruling would not only be contrary to the policy and purpose of the guidelines, but would lead 8 No. 09-1029 to the odd result we cautioned against in White. See also United States v. Katalinic, 510 F.3d 744, 747-48 (7th Cir. 2007). Thus, the sentence under § 924(c) “account[ed] for all of the guns possessed, carried, or used” by Eubanks and the co-defendants in relation to the robbery, including the plastic B.B. gun. White, 222 F.3d at 374. So the district court’s four-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(D) was impermissible double counting. Regarding Count 14, Eubanks argues that the district court’s six-level weapons enhancement for “otherwise using” a firearm under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(B) was also improper. Recall that in the jewelry store robbery, Eubanks hopped over the front counter and pointed his weapon at a store employee, forcing the employee to the ground. Eubanks contends that this conduct only warranted a five-level enhancement for brandishing a firearm, and indeed this is what the parties stipulated to in the plea agreement. The district court disagreed holding that because Eubanks pointed the weapon at a specific victim and put that victim to the ground, he personalized the threat. The district court felt that this conduct was “otherwise using” the firearm (a six-level enhancement), rather than brandishing the firearm (a fivelevel enhancement). See U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(B) and (C). The definitions of “brandishing” and “otherwise use” in the guidelines are largely unhelpful. United States v. Hernandez, 106 F.3d 737, 741 (7th Cir. 1997). The term “brandished” means that “all or part of the weapon was displayed, or the presence of the weapon was otherwise made known to another person, in order to intimidate No. 09-1029 9 that person.” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.1, comment (n.1(C)). By contrast, the guidelines define “otherwise use” as “conduct [that] did not amount to the discharge of a firearm but was more than brandishing, displaying, or possessing a firearm or other dangerous weapon.” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.1, comment (n.1(I)). We have previously held that “pointing a weapon at a specific victim created a personalized threat of harm,” warranting an “otherwise use” adjustment. United States v. Warren, 279 F.3d 561, 563 (7th Cir. 2002); United States v. Taylor, 135 F.3d 478, 483 (7th Cir. 1998). Conversely, brandishing typically occurs where a defendant generally displays a weapon or points the weapon at a group of people rather than a specific individual. See Hernandez, 106 F.3d at 741 (noting the difference between “pointing or waving about a firearm and leveling the weapon at the head of a victim”). Because we have no reason to doubt that Eubanks pointed his weapon at a specific employee and forced the employee to the ground, the district court’s factual finding was not clearly erroneous, and the six-level enhancement for “otherwise using” the firearm in Count 14 was appropriate. See U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(B).