Opinion ID: 4195353
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: RICO Grouping under the Guidelines

Text: The Sentencing Guidelines lay out a method for determining a numerical offense level for federal crimes, which, when combined with a defendant’s criminal history score, yield a sentencing range. The base offense level for a RICO conspiracy is the greater of either 19 or the level applicable to the underlying racketeering activity. See U.S.S.G. § 2E1.1. To calculate the latter number, we must launch on a journey through the Guidelines’ labyrinthine provisions for grouping offenses. A sentencing court “treat[s] each underlying offense as if contained in a separate count of conviction ... .” Id. § 2E1.1, cmt. (n.1). After identifying the underlying racketeering offenses the court then groups together closely related ones, in accordance with Chapter 3 of the Guidelines. Id. § 3D1.2. Once those offenses are grouped, the court assigns a base offense level to each “Group” based on the nature of the grouping and of the offenses grouped. Id. § 3D1.3. In assigning the base offense level to each Group, the court looks to the highest offense level of the underlying offenses in that Group. Id. § 3D1.3. After the offense level has been determined for each Group, the sentencing court must then determine the combined offense level of all the Groups. To do so, the court “tak[es] the offense level applicable to the Group with the highest offense level and increas[es] that offense level by the amount indicated” in a table included in the Guidelines. Id. § 3D1.4. That table requires the court to assign “Units” to 13 each Group. Id. One Unit is assigned to the Group with the highest offense level. Id. § 3D1.4(a). Then, one additional Unit is added “for each Group that is equally serious or from 1 to 4 levels less serious” than the Group with the highest offense level. Id. And one-half Unit is added for “any Group that is 5 to 8 levels less serious than the Group with the highest offense level.” Id. § 3D1.4(b). “[A]ny Group that is 9 or more levels less serious than the Group with the highest offense level” is to be disregarded. Id. § 3D1.4(c). Based on the total number of Units, the base offense level can be increased up to a maximum of 5 levels, if the sum of the Units is 5 or greater. Id. § 3D1.4. For both Gjeli and Mustafaraj, the highest offense level applicable to the groupings was 28, and the groupings’ Units aggregated to 8.5 Units. So a 5 level increase in offense level was added to 28, making the total offense level for each man 33. Mustafaraj makes two arguments with respect to the District Court’s calculation of his offense level. First, he claims that the District Court erred by declining to decide a “contested issue” (Mustafaraj Br. at 36), namely whether he had participated in criminal acts that were designated as Groups 10, 11, and 12 in the calculation. Second, he argues that, even if he had participated in those crimes, the District Court erred by including Groups 10, 11, and 12 in the calculation at all. Gjeli joins that second argument. Our review of the District Court’s calculations is plenary.11 See 11 Gjeli did not waive that second argument and therefore our review is plenary as to the alleged error affecting him, but Mustafaraj’s counsel (rightly) agreed with 14 United States v. Grier, 475 F.3d 556, 570 (3d Cir. 2007) (en banc) (“[T]his Court will … exercise plenary review over a district court’s interpretation of the Guidelines.”). As to the first argument, Mustafaraj says that the District Court should have ruled on the exclusion of the contested Groups pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32. That Rule requires a sentencing court to “rule on [any disputed portion of a presentence report] or determine that a ruling is unnecessary either because the matter will not affect sentencing, or because the court will not consider the matter in sentencing[.]” Fed. R. Crim. P. 32(i)(3)(B). The Rule is “strictly enforced[,]” United States v. Electrodyne Sys. Corp., 147 F.3d 250, 255 (3d Cir. 1998), and the District Court here did as instructed: it found that the precise objection “[would] not affect sentencing.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 32(i)(3)(B). That satisfies Rule 32. Cf. United States v. Campbell, 295 F.3d 398, 406 (3d Cir. 2002) (declining to find a Rule 32 violation where a party raised his objections for the first time at sentencing and the sentencing court ruled on them on the record). the District Court that it was not necessary to rule on the inclusion of Groups 10, 11, and 12 in the sentencing calculation. His challenges therefore need only be reviewed for plain error. See United States v. Flores-Mejia, 759 F.3d 253, 254-55 (3d Cir. 2014) (en banc) (reviewing unpreserved procedural challenges to a sentence for plain error). As the District Court’s rulings on these issues survive plenary review, however, it is clear that they do not constitute plain error. 15 Mustafaraj’s second argument, the one joined by Gjeli, is that the District Court should have excluded the contested Groups altogether. Even if that argument had merit, however, it is irrelevant. As the District Court pointed out, excluding the contested Groups would not have affected the resulting Guidelines range for either man because, even without them, each was subject to the five-level increase based on the remaining Groups affecting his sentence. (See App. at 5097 (recognizing that even if the District Court excluded the Groups “that would only delete two units, so [the defendant] would still have 6.5 units, and therefore, there would be a five-point enhancement”).) Therefore, the Court’s conclusion that ruling on the matter was unnecessary was sufficient. Fed. R. Crim. P. 32(i)(3)(B). Furthermore, any error in this regard – and we are not implying there was any – was harmless, as it did not affect either man’s sentence.12 See 12 Mustafaraj also argues that the District Court erred in failing to strike a reference to guns in paragraph 178 of his Pre-Sentence Report. The government agrees that that was a clerical error but notes that it can be resolved at any time by motion to the District Court through Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 36. Rule 36 states that “the court may at any time correct a clerical error in a judgment, order, or other part of the record, or correct an error in the record arising from oversight or omission.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 36. Because we agree that any clerical error is properly the subject of a Rule 36 motion to the District Court, United States v. Bennett, 423 F.3d 271, 277 (3d Cir. 2005), we do not address it on appeal. Mustafaraj’s additional argument that his Bureau of Prisons’ classification was potentially affected by the PSR is irrelevant to our review of the sentence imposed. Williams v. United States, 503 U.S. 193, 202-03 (1992) (“[R]emand is 16 Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(a) (“Any error ... that does not affect substantial rights must be disregarded.”). We thus reject Mustafaraj and Gjeli’s challenges to the calculations associated with the RICO conspiracy.