Opinion ID: 3003338
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sentencing Arguments Resolved—Davis

Text: Although we conclude that Davis and Anthony are entitled to a full remand and resentencing in light of Kimbrough, we have also considered their sentencing arguments that are unrelated to the crack/powder disparity. Because some of these arguments are meritless Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 19 and were fully developed in the initial sentencing proceedings, we may dispense with them in this appeal. Beginning with Davis’ individual arguments, he asserts that other errors were committed at his sentencing. He argues that the district court abused its discretion by failing to adequately consider evidence that the ATF agent engaged in sentencing entrapment and manipulation. Davis also asserts that the court’s application of the career offender guideline to his case was unreasonable based on the minor nature of his prior felony convictions and the unreliability of the court’s findings of Davis’ prior convictions. Finally, Davis challenges the district court’s refusal to reduce his sentence based on his cooperation with the government.
Sentencing entrapment occurs “when a defendant who lacks a predisposition to engage in more serious crimes nevertheless does so ‘as a result of unrelenting government persistence.’ ” United States v. White, 519 F.3d 342, 347 (7th Cir. 2008) (quoting United States v. Veazey, 491 F.3d 700, 710 (7th Cir. 2007)). The government may disprove sentencing entrapment by simply showing that the defendant was in fact predisposed to violate the law without “extraordinary inducements.” Id. Sentencing manipulation is distinct from entrapment and occurs when the government procures evidence “through outrageous conduct solely for the purpose of increasing the defendant’s sentence under the Sentencing 20 Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 Guidelines.” United States v. Wagner, 467 F.3d 1085, 1090 (7th Cir. 2006). Because “this circuit clearly and consistently has refused to recognize any defense based on either ‘sentencing manipulation’ or on asserting ‘outrageous government conduct,’ ” White, 519 F.3d at 346, Davis’ manipulation argument would seem to be a nonstarter. However, Davis raises both sentencing entrapment and manipulation not as defenses to criminal conduct, but as mitigating factors that the district court may consider in choosing a reasonable sentence. See United States v. Lakhani, 480 F.3d 171, 186 (3d Cir. 2007) (acknowledging that the district court at sentencing “would have been entitled to consider the Government’s pervasive role in this case,” even though the jury had rejected the defendant’s entrapment defense); cf. United States v. Hale, 448 F.3d 971, 989 (7th Cir. 2006) (rejecting a sentencing entrapment argument under § 3553(a) on the ground that the defendant had not shown “extraordinary inducements”). Assuming that evidence of sentencing entrapment and manipulation could be relevant to a district court’s application of the § 3553(a) factors, the evidence in this case was not so strong that the district court abused its discretion in rejecting Davis’ entrapment and manipulation arguments. Davis argues that, by changing the payment term of the guns purchase from $2000 cash to 2 1/4 ounces cocaine, the ATF agent entrapped Davis into a drug offense that he would not otherwise have committed. That change also amounts to sentencing manipulation, says Davis, because the drug offense triggered a harsher sentencing range under the career offender guideline, which would not Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 21 apply to a cash purchase of guns. See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(a)(2) (indicating that the career offender guideline applies only where “the instant offense of conviction is a felony that is either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense”). We find these arguments to be without merit. As to sentencing entrapment, Davis had sold crack to the agent on three prior occasions, indicating that he did not lack the predisposition to commit another crack deal. True, the prior sales involved quantities below the 50-gram threshold that triggered a higher statutory maximum for Davis’ instant conviction. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(a)(iii). But Davis was at all times agreeable to paying for the guns with 2 1/4 ounces of crack, telling his co-defendants that he could easily supply that quantity. The agent did not have to use “extraordinary inducements” to convince Davis to engage in this relatively high-volume crack deal. White, 519 F.3d at 347. And while the 2 1/4 ounces solicited by the agent may have had a slightly lesser value than the originally proposed $2000 cash, such “bargain basement pricing” does not amount to sentencing entrapment. United States v. Estrada, 256 F.3d 466, 473-74 (7th Cir. 2001). As to sentencing manipulation, it is not enough that the agent’s provision of handguns and solicitation of larger crack quantities may have been “motivated in part by the desire to increase [Davis’] sentence.” Wagner, 467 F.3d at 1090. Although the agent’s tactics had the effect of increasing Davis’ guidelines sentencing range, it also served the legitimate purpose of investigating the full 22 Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 extent of Davis’ criminal activity, including his ability to deal in large quantities of crack. See id. The government’s conduct in this case was not so outrageous as to require leniency under § 3553(a).
Davis challenges the reasonableness of the district court’s application of the career offender guideline. In particular, Davis contends that sentencing him under § 4B1.1 is unreasonable because two of the three prior drug felonies that qualified him as a career offender occurred at a young age, involved relatively small amounts of drugs, and resulted in relatively short periods of incarceration. The problem for Davis, however, is that the district court fully considered these factors when examining Davis’ “extensive criminal history.” The court simply discounted the relative brevity of Davis’ prior sentences against the fact that “the sentences that you have served certainly have not been a deterrent to your conduct.” There was no abuse of discretion here. Davis also challenges the district court’s conclusion that he qualified as a career offender based on prior convictions that were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. He argues that due process requires that sentencing enhancements be based on only reliable facts, and that prior convictions established by a mere preponderance of the evidence are unreliable. However, rather than developing a cogent due process claim, Davis’ brief blends his argument for a reasonable doubt standard with a discussion of the Sixth Amendment right to a Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 23 jury trial. We have repeatedly held that the Sixth Amendment does not require that prior convictions supporting a career offender classification be found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. See Clanton, 538 F.3d at 654 (citing Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224 (1998)); United States v. Sachsenmaier, 491 F.3d 680, 685 (7th Cir. 2007). We do not see how Davis’ argument, though couched in terms of due process and the reasonableness of his sentence, survives this precedent.
In his final challenge to the reasonableness of his sentence, Davis argues that the district court abused its discretion by failing to consider his cooperation with the government. Prior to pleading in this case, Davis discussed a plea agreement where, in exchange for disclosing the details of the crime and serving as a witness, the government would move for a reduced sentence based on Davis’ “substantial assistance.” See U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1. The deal fell through, however, based on Davis’ desire to make other mitigation arguments at sentencing and his failure to admit all of the details of the offense, particularly that it involved crack cocaine. As a result, the government declined to make a § 5K1.1 motion at Davis’ sentencing. We agree with Davis that, as a general matter, a district court may consider a defendant’s cooperation with the government as a basis for a reduced sentence, even if the government has not made a § 5K1.1 motion. See United 24 Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 States v. Fernandez, 443 F.3d 19, 33 (2d Cir. 2006) (reasoning that a district court should consider “the contention that a defendant made efforts to cooperate, even if those efforts did not yield a Government motion for a downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1”); United States v. Doe, 398 F.3d 1254, 1260-61 (10th Cir. 2005) (concluding that “a defendant’s assistance should be fully considered by a district court at sentencing even if that assistance is not presented to the court in the form of a § 5K1.1 motion”); cf. United States v. Blue, 453 F.3d 948, 954 (7th Cir. 2006) (recognizing the district court’s “obligation to weigh the defendant’s cooperation . . . against the other statutory sentencing factors” where the government had made a § 5K1.1 motion). However, we disagree that the district court in this case failed to give sufficient consideration to Davis’ substantial-assistance argument. The court simply rejected that argument in favor of the government’s claim that “there were certain things that [Davis] would not admit that were essential to [his] cooperation.” The court’s decision to give more credit to the government’s view of the extent of Davis’ cooperation was not an abuse of discretion.