Opinion ID: 675764
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Relevant Conduct Guideline

Text: 19 This case ultimately pivots on whether, in sentencing Ritsema for the possession of silencers, the district court was required to include Ritsema's obstruction of justice conduct in its calculations as if it were sentencing Ritsema for a weapon possession offense. The court's first cross-reference away from the silencer guideline triggers the rest of the long series of subsequent cross-references and enhancements. 20 The guidelines authorize the court to consider at sentencing some kinds of behavior outside of the behavior constituting the defendant's charge-offense. 7 Several of the ways in which the guidelines direct the court to consider conduct outside of the charge-offense is through cross-references among the offense guidelines themselves, Chapter Three adjustments, and the Relevant Conduct provision in Chapter One. See generally U.S.S.G. Ch. 1, Pt. A intro. p.s.4. 21 More specifically, the Relevant Conduct guideline (section 1B1.3) is a general application principle that governs both cross-references in Chapter Two offense guidelines and offense level adjustments in Chapter Three, provided those sections do not specify to the contrary. Section 1B1.3 states, in pertinent part: 22 (a) ... Unless otherwise specified, ... cross-references in Chapter Two, and [ ] adjustments in Chapter Three, shall be determined on the basis of the following: 23 (1) all acts and omissions committed ... by the defendant, ... that occurred during the commission of the offense of conviction, in preparation for that offense, or in the course of attempting to avoid detection or responsibility for that offense, or that otherwise were in furtherance of that offense; 24 (2) solely with respect to offenses of a character for which Sec. 3D1.2(d) would require grouping of multiple counts, all such acts and omissions that were part of the same course of conduct or common scheme or plan as the offense of conviction; 25 (3) all harm that resulted from the acts or omissions specified in subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) above, and all harm that was the object of such acts or omissions.... 26 According to one authority, the Relevant Conduct guideline constitutes a cornerstone of the federal sentencing guideline system, by embody[ing] a number of critical policy choices the Sentencing Commission made in promulgating the guidelines. William W. Wilkins, Jr. & John R. Steer, Relevant Conduct: The Cornerstone of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, 41 S.C.L.Rev. 495 (1990). The Relevant Conduct provision is seen as one of the guidelines' main vehicles for introducing real-offense principles into what is predominantly a charge-offense sentencing system. See United States v. Masters, 978 F.2d 281, 284-85 (7th Cir.1992), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 2333, 124 L.Ed.2d 245 (1993) (listing sources). The goal of including relevant conduct in sentencing is to allow a court to reflect in its sentence the actual seriousness of an offense, instead of strictly limiting it to the charge the prosecutor names in the indictment. 27 We now turn to look at whether the cross-referencing provision of section 2K2.1, and the Chapter Three adjustments for Vulnerable Victim and Acceptance of Responsibility preclude the application of the Relevant Conduct guideline, and if not, whether Ritsema's obstruction of justice conduct constitutes relevant conduct justifying a cross-reference or an adjustment.