Opinion ID: 564386
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: other challenges to the sentence

Text: 37 O'Neal challenges his sentence on various grounds. When the district court sentenced O'Neal, the constitutionality of the Guidelines was before the Supreme Court. See Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 109 S.Ct. 647, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989) (upholding the constitutionality of the Guidelines against a separation of powers challenge). Thus, the court sentenced O'Neal to a forty-year term in case the Guidelines were found unconstitutional. O'Neal argues that the forty-year term, after good-time credits, is shorter than the thirty-year term imposed under Guidelines, and that his Guidelines sentence must bear some relationship to the alternative sentence. As a matter of fact, O'Neal concedes his Guidelines sentence would only be five years longer than the alternative sentence, which undermines their alleged disproportionality. Nevertheless, we know of no requirement, either statutory or by case law, that alternative sentences be proportional, and we refuse to imply one. 38 O'Neal also contends that his sentence is the result of an impermissible double enhancement because he was first determined a career criminal under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e) and then a career offender under Guideline 4B1.1. The application of the Guidelines did not constitute a double enhancement. The Guidelines are not a separate statutory provision of penalties but rather are intended to provide a narrow sentence range within the range authorized by the statute for the offense of conviction. United States v. Sanchez-Lopez, 879 F.2d 541, 559 (9th Cir.1989). The application of Guidelines 4B1.1 did not provide for a penalty or enhancement additional to that which O'Neal could have received under section 924(e). There was no double enhancement. 39 Finally, O'Neal incorporates by reference the district court's comments in United States v. Davis, 715 F.Supp. 1473 (C.D.Cal.1989), to the effect that the Guidelines violate the due process clause of the fifth amendment. We recently explicitly rejected the views expressed in Davis, however. United States v. Wilson, 900 F.2d 1350 (9th Cir.1990). O'Neal's argument thus fails.