Opinion ID: 553838
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Martinez' sentence

Text: 39 The government's sole complaint is that the district court improperly imposed too low a sentence on Martinez as a result of an incorrect application of Sentencing Guideline Sec. 3C1.1. Sentencing Guideline Sec. 3C1.1 provides that the court shall increase a defendant's offense level if the defendant willfully impeded or obstructed the administration of justice during the investigation or prosecution of the subject offense. As a possible basis for applying this adjustment, the Application Notes list defendant's untruthful testimony concerning a material fact during trial. United States v. Sanchez-Solis, 882 F.2d 693, 698 (2d Cir.1989). The government argues that since the sentencing court increased Martinez' offense level for his managerial role in the operation based on its finding that Martinez was in possession of a key to the apartment, it necessarily follows that Martinez' denial of the keys' ownership at trial constituted perjury, thus mandating the further increase. Additionally, it contends that the jury's finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt further evidences appellant's perjury, since his version of the facts was in almost total conflict with the testimony of the witnesses presented by the government. 40 On appeal, a sentencing court's application of the Sentencing Guidelines is entitled to considerable deference. United States v. Trinidad de la Rosa, 916 F.2d 27, 31 (1st Cir.1990); United States v. Bradley, 917 F.2d 601, 605 (1st Cir.1990); 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3742(e). Due deference in this context means that, absent mistake of law, we will review the sentencing court's fact-based application of the guidelines only for clear error. Trinidad de la Rosa, 916 F.2d at 29; United States v. Diaz-Villafane, 874 F.2d 43, 48 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 177, 107 L.Ed.2d 133 (1989). Moreover, where there is more than one plausible view of the circumstances, a sentencing court's choice among supportable alternatives cannot be clearly erroneous. United States v. Ruiz, 905 F.2d 499, 508 (1st Cir.1990). 41 In what pertains to the government's first contention, we are of the opinion that the fact that a sentencing judge bases his or her decision to increase a defendant's offense level on a fact which the defendant's own testimony negated during trial need not necessarily constrain the court to raise the level of the offense on the basis of perjury. A number of other factors, which the sentencing judge could best get a feel for, and which this court is particularly ill-positioned to evaluate, undoubtedly formed part of the equation. Cf. Diaz-Villafane, 874 F.2d at 49-50. The record reveals that the sentencing judge painstakingly evaluated the circumstances surrounding Martinez' case before imposing his sentence and was clearly troubled by the fact that there had been inconsistencies in both the government witnesses' and Martinez' testimony. Under these circumstances, we refuse to adopt a mechanistic approach to sentencing whereby decisions a sentencing judge has to make regarding certain matters handcuff him or her with respect to decisions he or she has to make regarding others. The sentencing court's decision, not being clearly erroneous and deserving of deference from this court, will be allowed to stand. 42 As for the government's second assertion, we note that to hold that a jury's verdict of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on the basis of evidence which was in direct conflict with a defendant's testimony signals perjury would in effect amount to punishing a defendant for exercising his right to take the witness stand in his own defense. Cf. United States v. Mazzaferro, 865 F.2d 450, 458 (1st Cir.1989) (One of the fundamental principles of our jurisprudence is that a defendant cannot be punished for exercising a constitutional right and that vindictiveness is to play no role in the sentencing of defendants.). If the government concludes that there was perjured testimony in this trial, it needs no advice from us as to the appropriate steps to be taken.