Opinion ID: 202732
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Federal Sentence

Text: 2 Bell pled guilty to robbing a credit union in Bangor, Maine, on April 4, 2005. In committing the robbery, Bell entered the credit union office and handed a note to a teller that read: THIS IS A HOLDUP!! I HAVE A GUN. PUT 100'S, 50'S AND 20'S IN A BAG AND YOU WILL NOT GET HURT. Notwithstanding the note, Bell, only 19 years old at the time of the crime, did not have a weapon with him. In response to Bell's demand, the teller gave him $2,210, after which Bell fled the credit union. 3 On February 21, 2006, the district court sentenced Bell to 77 months in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution in the amount of $2,210, and a $100 special assessment. The sentence imposed was at the low end of the 77- to 96-month sentencing guideline range calculated by the district court. In determining Bell's sentencing range, the district court began by calculating a base offense level of 20, and added a two-level enhancement because the offense involved the property of a financial institution. Finding that Bell made a threat of death in the course of committing the robbery, the court imposed an additional two-level enhancement under USSG § 2B3.1(b)(2)(F) (2006), thus resulting in a total offense level of 24. The court then applied a two-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, under USSG § 3E1.1(a), and a one-level reduction under USSG § 3E1.1(b), for timely entry of a guilty plea. These adjustments yielded a final offense level of 21. The court also assessed 13 criminal history points based on Bell's eight prior convictions, placing him in Criminal History Category VI. On appeal, Bell contests the imposition of the 13 criminal history points. 4 At his sentencing hearing for the credit union robbery, Bell argued that his eight previous convictions, all of which were adjudicated by Maine's juvenile justice system, were actually two clusters of crimes that were consolidated by the juvenile court into two groups for sentencing purposes. Therefore, Bell argued that he should receive only three criminal history points, under USSG § 4A1.2(d)(2), instead of the thirteen points the court ultimately imposed upon him. Had the district court accepted Bell's argument that the prior convictions merited only three points, he would have been put in Criminal History Category II, which would have yielded a guideline range of 41 to 51 months. The district court, in rejecting Bell's argument on this point, concluded that there was no indication apparent on the face of the record that the juvenile court had consolidated his crimes for sentencing.