Opinion ID: 185366
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The sentence enhancements for the Group 2 offenses

Text: 23 Appellants contend that the sentence enhancement for their Group 2 offenses was improper. We agree. The Group 2 offenses related to the kidnaping and attempted murder of K.D. The applicable sentencing guideline for Count 12, armed kidnaping, is U.S.S.G. 2A4.1(a), which provides for a base offense level of 24. The PIR computed an adjusted offense level of 43, pursuant to U.S.S.G. 2A4.1(b)(7)(B) and Application Note 5, with the rationale that the object of the kidnaping was to commit first degree murder, and the District Court adopted the finding that the attempted murder of K.D. would have constituted first degree murder had she died. The offense of first degree murder was not submitted to the jury, however, and the jury made no finding beyond a reasonable doubt that the object of the kidnaping was to commit first degree murder. 24 Application Note 5 to 2A4.1 of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines suggests that if an offense involved conspiracy to kidnap for the purpose of committing murder, or if an offense involved a kidnaping during which a participant attempted to murder the victim under circumstances that would have constituted first degree murder, subsection (b)(7) would reference first degree murder and result in an offense level of 43. We reject this commentary, and the District Court's reliance on it, because it is flatly at odds with the controlling Sentencing Guideline. As the Fifth Circuit correctly noted in United States v. Smith, 184 F.3d 415 (5th Cir. 1999), Application Note 5 violate[s] the dictates of 2A4.1(b)(7)(B). Id. at 418. 25 Section 2A4.1(b)(7)(B) of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines explicitly directs the court to cross-reference the guideline applicable to the crime actually committed. In this case, that crime was attempted murder. In Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36 (1993), the Supreme Court held that, if the commentary and the guideline it interprets are inconsistent in that following one will result in violating the dictates of the other, the Sentencing Reform Act itself commands compliance with the guideline. Id. at 43. Because the Guideline and not the commentary controls, we find that the District Court erred in enhancing appellants' Group 2 offenses by cross-referencing the guideline applicable to first degree murder.