Opinion ID: 2663168
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Career Offender/Prior Felony Conviction

Text: Wiggins argues that one of his prior drug convictions does not qualify him for career offender status because this conviction was for simple possession. The Guidelines, specifically U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(b), indicate such a conviction cannot be used to enhance his sentence to that of a career offender. However, Wiggins' argument misses the mark. As in every criminal case, the PSR set forth both the statutory provisions, and the Guidelines provisions. Of course, we learned in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), that the Guidelines are permissive and the statutes mandatory, but the PSR still routinely sets forth the analysis under both. In examining Wiggins' PSR and the sentencing transcript, we find that while it is true that the government used the two aforementioned drug offenses (one for possession and one for distribution) for the statutory enhancement, the PSR indicates that the qualifying felonies for the Guidelines career offender status did not include the drug possession offense. Instead, Paragraph 66 of the PSR indicates the Guidelines career offender status was based upon the distribution offense and two prior robbery offenses, all three of which qualify pursuant to the definitions in § 4B1.2. Wiggins' argument that the simple possession offense was used in the Guidelines career offender calculation simply misstates the record.2 And, in any event, the statutory provisions mandating a life sentence on count one and capping the count eight 2 Wiggins conflates the Guidelines career offender analysis with the statutory enhancement provisions, but key differences make conflation untenable. The Guidelines prohibit using simple possession as a career offender qualifying felony, see U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(b). The statute, on the other hand, allows simple possession to be used as a qualifying prior conviction for the life sentence enhancement if it is punishable by imprisonment for more than one year. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 802(44), 841(b); United States v. Jones, 559 F.3d 831, 837 (8th Cir. 2009). Nor do the Guidelines require that the government give notice of the prior offenses it intends to use for the career offender analysis, unlike the statutory enhancement notice requirements in § 851. -7- sentence at 360 months trumped the Guidelines provisions. Accordingly, this argument is without merit.