Opinion ID: 1238393
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The District Court Erred in Determining There Were 50 Or More Victims

Text: The district court erred in applying a 4-level enhancement for 50 or more victims, rather than applying the two-level enhancement for 10 or more victims. The court's additional two-level enhancement raised the advisory guideline range from 108-135 months to 135-168 months and resulted in a sentence that was at least sixteen months longer than should have been imposed. Because the district court imposed a sentence at the mid-point of an inappropriate Guideline range, we may not presume that it would have imposed the same sentence had the Guideline range been determined correctly. Although Showalter stipulated in his plea agreement that there were at least 10 victims, he objected to the PSR's statement that there were fifty or more victims. After Showalter objected to this statement, the district court was obligated to do more than simply adopt it. Ameline, 409 F.3d at 1086. Rather, Showalter's timely objection to the PSR required the government to produce at least some evidence to support its contention that there were fifty or more victims. See Burnett, 16 F.3d at 361 ([T]he government bears the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, the facts necessary to enhance a defendant's offense level under the Guidelines.). The district court did not require the government to meet this burden. The record reveals that the only basis for the district court's finding that there were fifty or more victims was: (1) the PSR's statement regarding a phone call to the bankruptcy trustee; and (2) the list of victims attached to the PSR. The district court did hear from roughly a dozen victims at Showalter's sentencing. However, this testimony was insufficient to establish that there were fifty or more victims. The PSR did not provide any details of the probation officer's conversation with the bankruptcy trustee, nor did it offer any explanation of how the bankruptcy trustee determined the total number of victims or indicate the source of the list of victims attached to the PSR. It is impossible to determine from the record whether the probation office ever inquired into the accuracy of the victim list or of the individual dollar amounts associated with the names on the list. Essentially, it appears that the probation office said there were 117 victims because the bankruptcy trustee said so, without any explanation as to how the trustee came up with this number. This does not justify a conclusion that the government met its burden of establishing that there were 50 or more victims. Accordingly, while Showalter's stipulation in the plea agreement that there were 10 or more victims provided a sufficient basis for a 2-level enhancement, there was insufficient evidence to support a 4-level enhancement for 50 or more victims.