Opinion ID: 718339
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Prison Sentence

Text: 13 Whether there has been an acceptance of responsibility is a fact-question and the circuit court will not reverse the district court's finding on this issue unless it is without foundation. United States v. Harris, 13 F.3d 555, 557 (2d Cir.1994) (citing United States v. Irabor, 894 F.2d 554, 557 (2d Cir.1990)). Accordingly, a district court's decision regarding a defendant's acceptance of responsibility in a sentencing calculation is entitled to great deference on review. USSG § 3E1.1, comment. (n.5).
14 As discussed in the statement of facts above, the district court based its refusal to give Giwah the benefit of accepting responsibility on (1) Giwah's perjury in an evidentiary hearing relating to his mail fraud charge and (2) Giwah's bail jumping. The propriety of the obstruction enhancement is clear. Failing to appear for a judicial proceeding is one prototype of justice obstruction under the guidelines. See USSG § 3C1.1, comment. (n.3(e)). It is also perfectly proper to base a § 3C1.1 enhancement and the denial of a § 3E1.1 reduction on the same conduct of the defendant. United States v. Echevarria, 33 F.3d 175, 179 (2d Cir.1994) (doing so is not impermissible double-counting). Under application note 4 to § 3E1.1, it takes an extraordinary case to justify the simultaneous application of the obstruction increase and the acceptance decrease. Giwah makes no argument that this is such an extraordinary case other than his attempt to minimize the seriousness of his justice-obstructing conduct. 15 For example, he argues that his perjury at an evidentiary hearing should not count against him because it was in response to aggressive questioning from the bench. This argument is breathtaking. Perjury is no less serious when it is committed in response to questions from a judge than when it is committed while answering a lawyer's inquiry. 16 Giwah also argues that the perjury occurred long before the plea agreement. Therefore, he reasons, the obstruction was not very serious. Guideline § 1B1.3(a)(1) makes clear that all acts that occurred ... in the course of attempting to avoid detection or responsibility for that offense shall be considered in determining the appropriate adjusted offense level. Giwah's argument ignores this. His perjury can only be seen as an attempt to avoid responsibility or detection for his mail fraud crime. 17 In a more technical argument, Giwah contends that the obstruction enhancement should not apply (and therefore the acceptance reduction should apply) to the credit card fraud count because he was indicted on the credit card count after he engaged in the justice-obstructing conduct. He argues that he deserves an acceptance reduction for the credit card count because he pleaded guilty thereto only a month after indictment. 18 There are many problems with this argument. The first problem is that the sentence does not change if the credit card conviction is thrown out. Guideline § 2F1.1(b)(1)(G) assigns the same base offense level to all frauds where the intended loss is more than $70,000 but less than $120,000. Here, Giwah and the Government agree that the intended loss in the mail fraud scheme was more than $80,000. The credit card fraud adds approximately $18,000 to the total. Combining the amounts from the two frauds does not increase the base offense level above that for the mail fraud alone. Furthermore, the mail fraud charge involved more than minimal planning. See USSG § 1B1.1, comment. (n.1(f)) (minimal planning exists where there are repeated acts over a period of time). Thus before the obstruction enhancement is applied, the base offense level is 14 regardless of the credit card count. This being the case, it is irrelevant whether Giwah accepted responsibility for the credit card count: The adjusted offense level is, therefore, 16 (14 + 2 from the obstruction adjustment). 19 The other major problem with this argument is that it ignores how the guidelines work. Guideline § 3D1.2 mandates that counts be grouped together into a single Group .... (d) When the offense level is determined largely on the basis of the total amount of harm or loss. Application note 6 provides a relevant example: 20 (3) The defendant is convicted of five counts of mail fraud and ten counts of wire fraud. Although the counts arise from various schemes, each involves a monetary objective. All fifteen counts are to be grouped together. 21 USSG § 3D1.2, comment. (n.6). As in this example, Giwah engaged in multiple fraud schemes. The counts shall be grouped together. USSG 3D1.2. There is no error in considering the issue of acceptance of responsibility only after counts have been appropriately grouped. See United States v. Mizrachi, 48 F.3d 651, 655-56 (2d Cir.1995). 22 The last issue raised with respect to the refusal to grant the acceptance reduction is whether Giwah was entitled to advance notice of the denial of that reduction. A defendant's acceptance of responsibility is always a factor which must be considered before sentencing. The Guidelines make clear that a guilty plea does not entitle the defendant to an acceptance reduction and that the defendant must prove to the court that he or she has accepted responsibility. USSG § 3E1.1, comment. (n.3). To argue that the defendant needs special notice before the court declines to adjust downward is inconsistent with that authority. This is especially true where, as here, the defendant stands convicted of, inter alia, jumping bail, constituting obstruction of justice which notifies defendant that an acceptance reduction will likely be difficult to obtain, at best.