Opinion ID: 6498152
Heading Depth: 1
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Heading: introduction

Text: David Wells brutally assaulted his wife, V.W. A grand jury issued an indictment charging Wells with committing: (1) aggravated sexual abuse in “Indian country,” 1 in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2241(a)(1) and 1153; (2) assault with the intent to commit aggravated sexual abuse in Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 113(a)(1) and 1153; (3) assault resulting in serious bodily injury in Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 113(a)(6) and 1153; and (4) assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 113(a)(3) and 1153. After a petit jury convicted Wells on all four counts, the district court sentenced him to a lengthy term of incarceration. Wells appeals, challenging his convictions and sentence. None of Wells’s challenges to his conviction are meritorious. At sentencing, however, the district court erred in adjusting upward Wells’s total offense level on the basis Wells obstructed justice when he violated 1 The terms “Indian” and “Indian county” are used in the United States Code to denote, inter alia, important jurisdictional concepts. For instance, Wells’s prosecution took place in federal court pursuant to the terms of 18 U.S.C. § 1153, titled “Offenses committed within Indian country.” Section 1153(a) provides that “[a]ny Indian who commits against the person or property of another Indian or other person any of [a series of listed offenses], shall be subject to the same law and penalties as all other persons committing any of [the listed offenses] within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States.” For this reason alone, we use the terms “Indian” and “Indian country” in this opinion. The record reveals both Wells and V.W. are Indians and the attack took place within the boundaries of the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation. See 18 U.S.C. § 1151 (“Indian country” includes “all land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the United States Government”). -2- Appellate Case: 20-1228 Document: 010110706158 Date Filed: 07/06/2022 Page: 3 an order directing that he have no contact with V.W. See U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1. Accordingly, this court exercises jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a) and remands the matter to the district court for the narrow purpose of vacating Wells’s sentence and conducting any further necessary proceeding with regard to the § 3C1.1 obstruction-of-justice adjustment.