Opinion ID: 696224
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Garrett Thompson

Text: 76
77 Thompson first challenges the two-point enhancement to his base offense level under U.S.S.G. Sec. 3B1.1(c) for his role as an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor of criminal activity involving less than five individuals. The district court applied this enhancement only to Thompson's extortion conviction, as it found that Thompson and the others played equally culpable roles in the cocaine conspiracy. Thompson contends on appeal that he was merely a participant in the extortion scheme, and he points to Johnson-Dix as the group's true ring leader. We review the district court's finding that an enhancement is warranted by a defendant's aggravated role in the offense for clear error. United States v. Billops, 43 F.3d 281, 287 (7th Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1389, 131 L.Ed.2d 241 (1995). 78 The primary concern of section 3B1.1 is the imposition of a punishment commensurate with the defendant's relative responsibility within a criminal organization. United States v. Fones, 51 F.3d 663, 665 (7th Cir.1995); see also United States v. Skinner, 986 F.2d 1091, 1097 (7th Cir.1993). In evaluating relative responsibility, we are to consider the following factors: 79 the exercise of decision making authority, the nature of participation in the commission of the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a larger share of the fruits of the crime, the degree of participation in planning or organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority exercised over others. 80 U.S.S.G. Sec. 3B1.1, App.Note 4. 7 Although we have placed particular emphasis on whether the defendant exercised control over other participants in criminal activity (Fones, 51 F.3d at 666; United States v. Brown, 944 F.2d 1377, 1381 (7th Cir.1991)), our overall focus on relative responsibility means that no one factor is essential to application of this enhancement. Fones, 51 F.3d at 665-66; Skinner, 986 F.2d at 1099; see also United States v. Bell, 28 F.3d 615, 617 (7th Cir.1994). We have therefore affirmed enhancements under section 3B1.1(c) if the defendant  'was a key figure who coordinated and organized the criminal activity'  even if he did not necessarily control another participant. See Bell, 28 F.3d at 618; Skinner, 986 F.2d at 1098-99; United States v. Lewis, 954 F.2d 1386, 1396 (7th Cir.1992). 81 In the instant case, the district court adopted the probation officer's recommendation that the enhancement be applied. The Presentence Report (PSR) emphasized that Thompson had assumed the leadership role in seeking the return of the $12,500 once it had been lost. Thompson set the deadline for the return of the money, told Meyers and Nunnally that they would have to do what they have to do if the deadline was not met, approved the trip to Mississippi on the condition that Walton go along, ordered Johnson-Dix to accompany the group to Mississippi, stayed in constant telephone contact with Walton and Johnson-Dix in Mississippi, and ordered Johnson-Dix to kill Nunnally on the return trip to Chicago. Moreover, it appears that Thompson also coordinated the attempt to extort money from Patricia Meyers upon the group's return to Chicago. For example, Thompson came on the line when Patricia first asked to speak to one of the people holding her son. Thompson told Patricia that he did not intend to harm Carlos but that he needed to get his money back. Thompson spoke to Patricia again during at least one other call. Finally, Thompson told Johnson-Dix and Dawson to survey Patricia's apartment at the time she was expected to deliver the money to the Amoco station. These facts establish that Thompson not only coordinated the extortion scheme but that he also exercised some level of control over both Johnson-Dix and Walton. Even if Johnson-Dix believed she was free to make her own decisions, as Thompson argues, that does not necessarily impact the level of Thompson's responsibility under section 3B1.1(c), as it is clear that the enhancement may apply to more than one person in any criminal organization. See Billops, 43 F.3d at 287; U.S.S.G. Sec. 3B1.1, App.Note 4 (There can, of course, be more than one person who qualifies as a leader or organizer of a criminal association or conspiracy.). The district court's finding under section 3B1.1(c) was thus not clearly erroneous. 82
83 Thompson also contends that the district court engaged in impermissible double counting when it applied a seven-level increase to his base offense level under section 2B3.2(b)(3)(A)(i) for the discharge of a firearm during the extortion attempt, and a five-level increase under section 2E2.1(b)(1)(A) for the discharge of a firearm during the conspiracy to collect an extension of credit by extortionate means. He contends that the use of the firearm had already been accounted for when the court imposed a five year mandatory, consecutive sentence for his separate firearm conviction under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c)(1). See United States v. Mrazek, 998 F.2d 453, 454 (7th Cir.1993) (mandatory penalties under section 924(c)(1) must be imposed consecutively to any other term of imprisonment). 84 Yet Thompson's counsel conceded at his client's sentencing hearing that the probation officer's calculations were in accord with Application Note 2 to section 2K2.4. 8 Under that note, a separate firearm conviction generally would preclude an enhancement to the defendant's base offense level for the use of the same firearm in an underlying offense. Mrazek, 998 F.2d at 454. But the note also crafts an exception to that rule where the defendant's adjusted guideline range, which includes the mandatory sixty-month sentence under section 924(c)(1), is lower than the range that would obtain if the specific offense characteristic had been applied. In that case, the higher of the two ranges is utilized, but the sixty-month mandatory consecutive sentence under section 924(c)(1) is subtracted from the minimum and maximum of the range to prevent double-counting. U.S.S.G. Sec. 2K2.4, App.Note 2; see also United States v. Jones, 32 F.3d 1512, 1518 (11th Cir.1994). 85 The probation officer determined that the exception applied to Thompson's case (see Presentence Report at 7-8, 11-12, 23-24), and counsel conceded at the sentencing hearing that the probation officer had arrived at the appropriate sentencing range. We agree that the exception applied and that there was no double-counting because the sixty-month sentence required under section 924(c)(1) was subtracted from the minimum and maximum of the higher, unadjusted range. See Jones, 32 F.3d at 1518. The district court imposed a sentence in the middle of that range, and Thompson has provided us with no reason to disturb it.