Opinion ID: 772800
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Bergen's Sentencing Claim

Text: 51 In supplemental papers submitted in response to our invitation, Bergen, the only Appellant whose guilt was determined by a jury, presented a sentencing issue arising under the Supreme Court's decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000). In Apprendi, the Court ruled that the jury must determine any fact (other than facts concerning a defendant's prior record) that will be used at sentencing to enhance a sentence above the statutory maximum that would apply if the fact was not established. In Apprendi's case, the fact that his crime was motivated by bias had been used to enhance his sentence above the maximum otherwise specified for his offense. Bergen's sentencing claim requires consideration of the penalty provisions of the statutes under which his principals, Velazquez and Regnier, were convicted upon their pleas of guilty. 52 Sections 241 and 242 contain intermediate maximum penalties. See United States v. Garcia, 240 F.3d 180 (2d Cir. 2001) (intermediate maximum penalties for food stamp violations). The intermediate maximum sentence for a section 241 violation is ten years; if the violation causes the death of the victim, the maximum increases to life imprisonment or the death penalty. The intermediate maximum sentence for a section 242 violation is one year; if the violation causes bodily injury, the intermediate maximum increases to ten years; if the violation causes death (or if the violation involves other serious misconduct), the maximum increases to life imprisonment or the death penalty. Bergen's maximum sentence under the accessory statute depends on the maximum available for his principals: if they face a maximum of life, his maximum as an accessory is 15 years, see 18 U.S.C. § 3; otherwise, his maximum is one-half of the maximum they face, see id. If, in this case, the principals' maximum is ten years under section 241 and one year under section 242, then a further issue arises as to how Bergen's maximum is to be determined. 53 The Government contends, and, thus far Bergen has not disputed, that if the ten- and one-year intermediate maximums apply to Bergen's principals, the proper calculation under his one count of violating section 3 is to combine the ten- and one-year maximums for a total of eleven years (on the theory that the principals could receive consecutive sentences) and to set Bergen's maximum at one-half of the total. On that approach, Bergen's maximum would be five and one-half years, or 66 months, which is four months less than his current 70-month sentence. 54 However, it is open to question whether section 3 permits a cumulation of the principal's maximum sentences on multiple counts before the one-half fraction is applied to determine the accessory's maximum sentence. Although section 3 specifies that the accessory shall be imprisoned for not more than one-half the maximum term of imprisonment... prescribed for the punishment of the principal, it also specifies that if the principal is punishable by life imprisonment or death, the accessory shall be imprisoned for not more than 15 years. Presumably Congress viewed offenses punishable by life imprisonment or death as more serious than those punishable by a term of years, yet the Government's approach of cumulating the principal's maximum sentences would permit an accessory to a principal's capital offense to receive less punishment than an accessory to a principal's commission of two offenses each carrying maximum punishments of 20 years. 5 Perhaps what is really at issue is the propriety of charging in a single count that a defendant is an accessory to two offenses of his principal. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 8(a) (requiring a separate count for each offense; United States v. Margiotta, 646 F.2d 729, 733 (2d Cir. 1981). Arguably, a section 3 count should be limited to one offense of a principal. Since the parties have not explored the propriety of the Government's approach to the section 3 maximum sentence calculation or the issue of whether the section 3 count is duplicitous, we will not undertake to resolve such matters at this time, but leave them for further consideration by the District Court on remand. 55 Even if we assume, for purposes of this appeal, that the principals' intermediate maximum sentences may be cumulated for purposes of a section 3 maximum, Bergen contends that his sentence may not exceed 5 years because the fact that subjects him to a maximum sentence above 5--the causal relationship between Pizzuto's beating and death--was not submitted to the jury and not found by the jury to have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. 56 We agree. The Government acknowledges that Apprendi applies, but contends that the Apprendi violation is harmless error, because, it contends, Bergen could have received a maximum sentence of 72 months. The Government reaches this figure by adding one-half of the ten-year intermediate maximum of section 241 to the full one-year intermediate maximum of section 242. However, the Government overlooks the need, required by the penalty provision of section 3, to take one-half of the one-year intermediate maximum of section 242. Because Bergen's sentence exceeds by four months the maximum 5-year sentence that could be imposed without jury determination of the cause of Pizzuto's death, his sentence must be reduced by at least four months. Since Bergen's Apprendi claim is entirely independent of the issues discussed in Parts II and III, supra, which have prompted us to offer the Appellants the opportunity to withdraw their appeals, we believe that Bergen should receive this four-month reduction, even if his appeal is withdrawn. Thus, if Bergen advises that he wishes to withdraw his appeal to avoid the risk of exposure to a higher sentence (based on an increase in maximum sentences faced by his principals), we will dismiss only part of his appeal, and restore jurisdiction to the District Court to reduce the current sentence by four months. Such a partial remand will also permit the District Court to consider whether the principals' intermediate maximum sentences may not be cumulated for purposes of section 3, in which event Bergen's maximum sentence would be further reduced to 60 months (one-half of ten years). 6