Opinion ID: 15662
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Use of murder in calculating Hickman's sentence

Text: 92 Hickman contends that the district court improperly calculated his base offense level for the Peking Restaurant crime. The court set his offense level at 43, relying on U.S.S.G. §§ 2B3.1(c)(1) and 2A1.1, which provide the base offense level for murder. Hickman argues that the murder guideline should not have been applied to his case because he was not the triggerman and it was not reasonably foreseeable that someone would be killed during the crime. He further contends that he was not charged with conspiracy for this specific crime, so he should not be held responsible for the crimes of his co-defendants under the Pinkerton doctrine. See Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946). 93 Section 1B1.3(a)(1)(B) of the Guidelines provides that defendants may be sentenced for all foreseeable conduct that occurs as a part of a jointly undertaken criminal activity, even if no conspiracy is charged. Hickman's argument that the murder was unforeseeable is specious. Prior to the Peking Restaurant crime, Hickman had participated in various robberies in which guns were brandished and shots were fired. Moreover, the perpetrators of the Peking Restaurant offense openly utilized loaded firearms. Hickman clearly should have understood that the brazen use of loaded firearms might lead to the death of a victim. Indeed, application Note 2 to U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 details almost an identical situation where one robber should be held responsible for the murder committed by a fellow robber in the course of the robbery. The district court did not err using the murder component in calculating Hickman's base offense level.