Opinion ID: 176991
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sentencing Enhancements for Armor, Weapons, and Restraints

Text: Shamah also contests the enhancements for brandishing a weapon, using handcuffs, and wearing body armor. He argues that all officers carry these tools as part of their uniform, and use them in proper arrest procedure to ensure officer safety, so they cannot be the basis of sentencing enhancements. Shamah further argues that even if they can be the basis of sentencing enhancements, there was insufficient evidence for the district court to apply these sentencing enhancements in his case. That Shamah's police tools had a second, legitimate purpose does not make the enhancements inappropriate. United States v. Haynes, 582 F.3d 686, 712 (7th Cir. 2009). The theory of the government's case was that the defendants manipulated their power to arrest in order to rob drug dealers. In Haynes, another case involving a corrupt Chicago police officer, the defendant argued that the use of body armor was a specific offense characteristic because he used the body armor to make his targets believe they were engaged in legitimate law enforcement activity. He claimed that the use of the body armor was already accounted for by the specific offense conduct, so it could not also be the basis of an enhancement. Haynes, 582 F.3d at 712; see U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3 (an adjustment may not be employed if an abuse of trust or skill is included in the base offense level or specific offense characteristic). There, we rejected the idea that the enhancement should not apply: The court drew the reasonable inference that the body armor was being used for its primary purposefor protection. The fact that the body armor may also have been used to identify the defendant officers as legitimate Chicago cops engaged in lawful police activity doesn't make the enhancement inappropriate. Haynes, 582 F.3d at 712; see United States v. Barrett, 552 F.3d 724, 728 (8th Cir.2009) (stating that [t]he ability of body armor to serve dual purposes did not make the enhancement inappropriate). In the context of possessing or brandishing a weapon, other circuits have stated the same, holding that just because a defendant may be required to carry a weapon does not entitle that defendant to a blanket exception to the application of an enhancement. United States v. Partida, 385 F.3d 546, 562 (5th Cir.2004); United States v. Sivils, 960 F.2d 587, 596 (6th Cir.1992); United States v. Ruiz, 905 F.2d 499, 508 (1st Cir.1990). The evidence was more than sufficient for the district court to apply the sentencing enhancements here. Doroniuk testified that victims were stopped at gunpoint and restrained by handcuffs. Each testifying victim also stated that Shamah drew his weapon and that he was physically restrained during the encounter. As to the use of body armor, Bates testified before the grand jury that the officers were wearing police vests, and Doroniuk testified about the Bates robbery at trial. Contrary to his argument, Shamah is not receiving these enhancements for each time he used handcuffs or pulled a gun on a suspect as a legitimate law enforcement tool. These enhancements are for the specific times where those tools were used to effectuate a robbery. The district court did not err in relying on trial testimony, grand jury testimony, and the Pre-Sentencing Report in applying enhancements on the ground that weapons were possessed or brandished during these encounters, that victims were physically restrained, and that Shamah wore a bulletproof vest during one incident. Finally, Shamah argues that the jury acquitted him of possessing a firearm during and in relation to a violent crime, and so he cannot receive the enhancement for possessing or brandishing a firearm during the robbery of Matthew Smith. This argument also fails. A sentencing court may consider conduct of which a defendant has been acquitted, as long as that conduct is proved by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148, 157, 117 S.Ct. 633, 136 L.Ed.2d 554 (1997). The district court did not clearly err in relying on trial testimony that Shamah and Doroniuk drew their weapons during Smith's traffic stop in order to effectuate a robbery, so the enhancement was not improper.