Opinion ID: 783105
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Application of Diaz

Text: 5 In Bradford, we affirmed Andrews' conviction but remanded to the district court for resentencing in light of Apprendi. 246 F.3d at 1115. As we have already observed, the Supreme Court in Apprendi held that any fact, other than a prior conviction that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be included in the indictment and proven to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348. However,  Apprendi does not forbid a district court from finding the existence of sentencing factors, including drug quantity, by a preponderance of the evidence; rather, it prevents courts from imposing sentences greater than the statutory maximum based on such findings. United States v. Diaz, 296 F.3d 680, 683 (8th Cir.2002) (en banc), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 940, 123 S.Ct. 43, 154 L.Ed.2d 247 (2002). Because the initial 396-month sentence imposed upon Andrews exceeded the statutory maximum of 240 months on each count, see Bradford, 246 F.3d at 1113, Apprendi considerations were implicated and we remanded, giving the district court the first shot at determining Andrews' sentence under the sentencing guidelines' rather idiosyncratic calculation scheme. Id. at 1116. 6 The Bradford panel indicated that notwithstanding the dictates of U.S.S.G. § 5G1.2(d), a district court retains discretion to impose either concurrent or consecutive sentences. Bradford, 246 F.3d at 1114-15. Under the guidance provided the district court in Bradford, the district court ably attempted to reconcile the unsettled Eighth Circuit law existing at that time. However, the approach in Bradford is no longer cognizable. See Diaz, 296 F.3d 680. 7 The en banc Diaz court convened to resolve an apparent conflict in our cases regarding a district court's discretion to depart from section 5G1.2(d)'s scheme as to concurrent and consecutive sentences in situations where the court is faced with a sentence that exceeds a statutory maximum for an individual count in violation of Apprendi. Diaz, 296 F.3d at 684-85. In Diaz, the defendant was convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A-B) and 846, aiding and abetting money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(a)(1)(A) and (2), and attempting to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C). Id. at 682. Diaz was sentenced to 360-months' imprisonment. Id. 8 Like Andrews' initial sentence in the instant case, the initial Eighth Circuit panel recognized in Diaz that because Diaz's 360-month initial sentence exceeded the 240-month statutory maximum for an indeterminate quantity of cocaine, the sentence ran afoul of Apprendi. Id. However, because the district court was required to run a portion of the drug sentences and the money laundering sentences consecutively to reach the properly calculated total punishment under the guidelines, Diaz's substantial rights were not affected and the initial panel affirmed the district court. Id. at 682-83. The en banc court affirmed this result. Id. at 685. 9 Thus, in Diaz, an en banc court of this circuit overruled Bradford to the extent that Bradford held that section 5G1.2(d) provides sentencing discretion. The court also determined that remand is necessary where the Apprendi violation can be cured by running sentences consecutively under that section. Id. at 684-85. We are faced with just that scenario in the instant case. 10 Under Diaz, the first step in sentencing for the district court after Apprendi is to make findings and calculate a sentencing range under the guidelines based on those findings. If the sentencing range exceeds the statutory maximum, Apprendi requires that the defendant be sentenced to not more than the statutory maximum term of imprisonment instead of to the total punishment calculated under the guidelines. Id. at 684. 11 When a defendant has been convicted of multiple counts, however, the sentencing court may not merely reduce the sentence imposed from the guidelines range to the statutory maximum on the greatest count. Section 5G1.2(d) of the guidelines requires that if the maximum sentence allowed under any one count does not reach the total punishment as calculated under the guidelines, the district court must impose consecutive sentences on the multiple counts until it reaches a sentence equal to the total punishment calculation under the guidelines. This is permissible, because imposing consecutive sentences on multiple counts does not violate Apprendi when the sentence for each count does not violate the statutory maximum for that count. 12 Diaz, 296 F.3d at 684 (emphasis added). So, pursuant to Diaz, the provisions of U.S.S.G. § 5G1.2(d) are mandatory. 3 See also United States v. Hollingsworth, 298 F.3d 700, 702 (8th Cir.2002) (determining that sentencing courts do not have discretion to depart from section 5G1.2(d)'s scheme as to concurrent and consecutive sentences), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 123 S.Ct. 1307, 154 L.Ed.2d 1061 (2003). 13 In this case, after considering all of the sentencing guidelines' factors at the initial sentencing, the district court determined that 396 months (thirty-three years) was the appropriate sentence within the guidelines range. This determination constitutes Andrews' total punishment. Total punishment as that term is used in section 5G1.2(d) has been defined by this circuit to mean the precise sentence determined by the sentencing judge from within the appropriate guidelines range. United States v. Ervasti, 201 F.3d 1029, 1045-46 (8th Cir.2000); see also Hollingsworth, 298 F.3d at 702 (applying total punishment, as that term is used in section 5G1.2(d), to the actual sentence imposed). The statutory maximum for each sentence imposed in the instant case is 240 months (twenty years). Bradford, 246 F.3d at 1113. 14 Applying the mandatory rule of section 5G1.2(d), we hold that Andrews' sentence would have been the same after recalculation to correct the Apprendi error. Andrews could have been sentenced to twenty years on each count. In this situation, it was incumbent upon the district court to order consecutive sentences to achieve the court's total punishment calculation. As a result, we are unable to affirm the 276-month sentence imposed at resentencing. When a defendant has been convicted of multiple counts, ... the sentencing court may not merely reduce the sentence imposed from the guidelines range to the statutory maximum on the greatest count. Diaz, 296 F.3d at 684. Accordingly, we direct that the district court reinstate its initial sentence imposing 396-months' imprisonment. 4