Opinion ID: 807518
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Broxmeyer’s Sentencing

Text: 1. The PSR Guidelines Calculation and the Statutory Sentencing Ranges Broxmeyer’s Sentencing Guidelines calculation, as reported in the PSR, reflected a total offense level of 43 and a criminal history category of I, resulting in an advisory Guidelines sentence of life incarceration.10 Because life imprisonment exceeded the 10 Because the Probation Department and the district court applied the 2008 Sentencing Guidelines Manual to calculate Broxmeyer’s sentencing range, all references to the Guidelines in this opinion are to that version. Broxmeyer’s Guidelines sentencing range, which applied without regard to Broxmeyer’s uncharged sexual relations with teenage girls, was based on the following calculations: With respect to the attempted production count of conviction, a base offense level of 32, see U.S.S.G. § 2G2.1, was enhanced two levels for distribution of child pornography, see id. § 2G2.1(b)(3); two levels for abuse of a position of trust, see id. § 3B1.3; and two levels for using a minor to commit the crime, see id. § 3B1.4, to yield an adjusted offense level of 38. With respect to the possession count of conviction, a base offense level of 18, see id. 15 statutorily authorized maximum sentence of 40 years—which could be achieved by sentencing Broxmeyer to the maximum 30-year prison term for attempted production of child pornography, see 18 U.S.C. § 2251(e), and a consecutive maximum 10-year term for possession of child pornography, see id. § 2252A(b)(2)—the statutorily authorized maximum became the Guidelines sentence. See U.S.S.G. § 5G1.1(a); United States v. Dorvee, 616 F.3d 174, 180–81 (2d Cir. 2010). While the district court was not required to sentence Broxmeyer to a Guidelines sentence of 40 years’ incarceration, see United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 245 (2005), it could not sentence him to fewer than 15 years, the statutorily mandated minimum on the attempted production count of conviction, see 18 U.S.C. § 2251(e). 2. Broxmeyer’s Sentencing Submission On remand, Broxmeyer renewed objections to the PSR and to his Guidelines calculations that he had unsuccessfully pursued at his initial sentencing. Broxmeyer § 2G2.2, was enhanced five levels for distribution of child pornography, see id. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(C); five levels for defendant’s pattern of sexual abuse or exploitation of minors, see id. § 2G2.2(b)(5); two levels for storing the images on a computer, see id. § 2G2.2(b)(6); and two levels for possession of more than 10 but fewer than 150 images of child pornography, see id. § 2G2.2(b)(7)(A), to yield an adjusted offense level of 32. In accordance with the grouping rules in U.S.S.G. §§ 3D1.1(a) and 3D1.4, a one-level increase was applied to the higher of these two adjusted offense levels to yield a combined adjusted offense level of 39. This offense level was then enhanced five levels pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 4B1.5(b)(1), because the attempted production crime of conviction was a covered sex crime as defined by § 4B1.5 application note 2 (defining “covered sex crime” to include “an attempt . . . to commit” “an offense, perpetrated against a minor, under,” inter alia, chapter 110 of title 18), and defendant had engaged in a pattern of activity involving prohibited sexual conduct. The resulting total offense level of 44 was then treated, pursuant to U.S.S.G. Ch. 5, Pt. A, application note 2, as a total offense level of 43, the highest recognized by the Sentencing Guidelines. 16 generally disputed all PSR allegations of sexual assault, maintaining that he never forced himself on any of the accusing teenagers. He denied having any sexual relations with K.T., J.B., and J.C. on the occasions these girls accused him of rape, and he maintained that his conceded sexual relationship with 17-year-old A.W. was consensual, as was any sexual conduct he may have engaged in with 17-year-old K.T. on December 7, 2007, or with 15year-old K.M. on December 9, 2007.11 To minimize further the seriousness of his conduct, Broxmeyer challenged the sexual explicitness of some of the photographs found in his possession, as well as the minority of some of the girls depicted therein. He also maintained that he did not send M.G. a photograph of his erect penis until she sent him a suggestive photograph of herself.12 He insisted that M.G.’s trial testimony—in response to a leading question—established only that Broxmeyer had “touched” her vagina, not that he had inserted his finger into it. Def.’s 11 Because K.M. could not, as a matter of New York law, consent to sexual conduct with the 37-year-old Broxmeyer when she was only 15, see N.Y. Penal Law § 130.05(3) (2007), and because 17-year-old A.W. could not, as a matter of California law, consent to sexual intercourse with Broxmeyer in that state, see Cal. Penal Code § 261.5, we assume that, in describing these actions as “consensual,” Broxmeyer was effectively denying the use of any physical force. Nevertheless, there is no question that engaging minors in such sexual activity would be criminal without regard to the use of force. 12 It is not clear whether Broxmeyer was suggesting that it was excusable for a 37year-old athletic coach to send a teenage player a photograph of his penis if she first sent him a suggestive photograph of herself. In any event, the point merits little discussion as (1) the district court resolved the question of the order of the transmittals to and from M.G. against Broxmeyer, and (2) Broxmeyer acknowledged sending K.T. a photograph of his penis before asking her for a return picture. 17 Resentencing Mem. at 9. Further, although M.G. testified that the action “shocked” her, Broxmeyer contended that this did not indicate that the contact was “unwelcome,” and he therefore objected to M.G. being considered a “victim.” Id. at 11. Broxmeyer also raised myriad challenges to the calculation of his Guidelines sentence, specifically to the enhancements for distributing child pornography, see U.S.S.G. § 2G2.1(b)(3); directing a minor to produce and distribute pornographic images of herself, see id. § 3B1.4; engaging in a pattern of child sex abuse or exploitation, see id. §§ 2G2.2(b)(5), 4B1.5(b)(1); using a computer to commit the possession crime, see id. § 2G2.2(b)(6); and possessing more than 10, but fewer than 150, images of child pornography, see id. § 2G2.2(b)(7)(A). 3. The District Court’s Sentencing Determination At Broxmeyer’s resentencing, the district court noted that it had already ruled on Broxmeyer’s objections to the PSR at the time of his original sentencing, and that nothing of significance had changed in the interim except for the reversal of convictions on Counts One, Two, and Four.13 Insofar as more victims had come forward in the interim, the district 13 In ruling on factual objections at the initial sentencing proceeding, the district court amended the PSR to indicate that Broxmeyer “promoted,” rather than “caused,” A.W. to produce “several,” rather than “many,” images of sexual activity between herself and the defendant. The district court similarly found that trial evidence supported the PSR’s statement that M.G. sent Broxmeyer a suggestive picture of herself after defendant sent her a photograph of his erect penis, rather than the other way around as defendant maintained. At the same time, the district court declined to strike allegations of rape made by K.T., J.B., and J.C., the last two of which were then the subject of state charges. Citing U.S.S.G. § 1B1.4 (providing that sentencing court may consider “any information concerning the 18 court assured Broxmeyer that it would not increase his sentence based on that new information. But insofar as Broxmeyer submitted that due process precluded the district court from relying on the untried allegations of sexual misconduct reported in the original PSR, the district court ruled to the contrary. “It’s a question of preponderance of the evidence and the court’s entitled to consider submissions made from anybody about conduct involved here and make a decision on how much it should consider to base its sentence on. Resentencing Tr. at 4:22–5:1. The district court nevertheless noted that if Broxmeyer “disagree[d] with that approach,” and wanted the court to go through all his objections again “step by step,” it was “glad to do it with [him].” Resentencing Tr. at 5:1–2. In response, background, character and conduct of the defendant” in “determining the sentence to impose within the guideline range, or whether a departure from the guidelines is warranted”), the court concluded that the allegations were properly included in the PSR and considered by the court “in conjunction with its sentencing obligations,” regardless of whether or not they were pursued by state authorities. Sentencing Tr. at 29:24–30:2. By the time of resentencing, these three rape charges had been dismissed, apparently pursuant to an agreement whereby Broxmeyer entered an Alford plea to third-degree criminal sexual act for his abuse of K.M., see N.Y. Penal Law § 130.40(2), for which crime he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment to run concurrently with the initial 40-year prison term imposed in this case only a few weeks earlier, see North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 37–38 (1970) (holding that court may accept guilty plea despite defendant’s protestations of factual innocence where court finds factual basis for plea and that plea was voluntary and intelligent); see also Silmon v. Travis, 95 N.Y.2d 470, 475, 718 N.Y.S.2d 704, 706–07 (2000) (stating that, under New York law, Alford pleas are permitted only where “the record before the court contains strong evidence of actual guilt,” and observing that they “may generally be used for the same purposes as any other conviction,” including “in determining predicate felon status for sentencing”). The fact that New York agreed to this global disposition of its charges against Broxmeyer only after he was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment in this case prevents us from concluding, as urged by Broxmeyer, and possibly even the dissent, see Jacobs, C.J., Op., post at 15, that New York did not view these accusations as particularly serious or warranting a lengthy punishment. 19 defense counsel did not request any further rulings on factual objections to the assault evidence, much less a hearing. Counsel asked only that the court rule on objections to the PSR’s Sentencing Guidelines calculations. The district court summarily rejected all Guidelines objections and adopted the PSR’s calculations.14 Defense counsel proceeded to argue that sentencing factors specified in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), including the defendant’s character and history, warranted leniency and urged the court to impose a sentence of no more than the 15-year mandatory minimum. Before imposing sentence, the district court also heard from the prosecution and from Broxmeyer himself. After portraying himself as a person who was always “the first to step 14 The summary rejection appears to have relied on reasons stated at the initial sentencing wherein the district court concluded that in calculating Broxmeyer’s Guidelines offense level for attempted production of child pornography, a two-level enhancement for distribution, see U.S.S.G. § 2G2.1(b)(3), was warranted because Broxmeyer sent “a picture of a minor female [i.e., K.T.] engaged in a sex act to [A.W.]” and “caused [A.W.] to send pictures of herself to him.” Sentencing Tr. at 32:8–13. The district court further concluded that a two-level enhancement for use of a minor was warranted under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.4, despite defendant’s protests that he did not direct A.W. to take and send pictures of herself, because “the evidence fairly suggests that he encouraged her to do so.” Sentencing Tr. at 32:20–21. The district court determined that in calculating Broxmeyer’s Guidelines offense level for possession of child pornography, a five-level enhancement for distribution to a minor, see U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(3)(C), was warranted because of Broxmeyer’s transmittal of the pornographic image of K.T. to A.W. Finally, the court found a two-level enhancement for possession of at least 10 images of child pornography warranted under U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(7)(A) because two such images were admitted at trial, A.W. testified that “probably around 15” photographs were taken of her engaging in sexual acts with defendant, Trial Tr. at 162:25, and the online photo album and computers seized from defendant contained more than 10 images qualifying as child pornography. 20 up and admit” any wrongdoing, Resentencing Tr. at 17:13–14, Broxmeyer proceeded to deny or minimize virtually all charges against him. He dismissed his sexual communications and pornographic picture exchanges with teenage students as “just joking around.” Id. at 19:4–5. He characterized those sexual relations he did acknowledge as “stupid,” id. at 19:7, and professed sorrow, not for the harm caused by his conduct, but for the fact “that it is blown up to this,” i.e., his criminal prosecution, id. at 20:3–4. While indicating a willingness to “apologize to anybody if they were offended” by his conduct, id. at 20:4–5, Broxmeyer maintained that any hurt was “unintentional,” id. at 18:9. He insisted that he had never assaulted or raped anyone. Indeed, he suggested that he was not a victimizer but a victim of accusers who had been motivated to level false charges by Broxmeyer’s refusal to compromise his professional integrity to their advantage: I’ve irritated people in my professional life because of how I stood for certain things. . . . [T]here are . . . certain people that [the prosecutor] would like to say are victims that I wouldn’t kowtow to because I wouldn’t change the way I do business in order to make them look better and, in reality, what’s going on is certain people are using this to their advantage now. Id. at 19:13–23. Neither at trial nor sentencing did defendant proffer any support for this self-serving assertion. The district court proceeded to sentence Broxmeyer to concurrent prison terms of 30 years on Count Three and 10 years on Count Five. In explaining its decision to impose a sentence well above the mandatory 15-year minimum but below the 40-year statutory maximum recommended by the Guidelines, the district court acknowledged defendant’s 21 preeminence in his field. See id. at 21:7–9 (“Colleges sought you, high schools sought you to be their coach. You’re good at what you did.”). Nevertheless, it found—with what can only be described as dignified understatement—that “for a long period of time,” Broxmeyer had “lost perspective,” failing to understand or not wanting to understand “what’s appropriate or not appropriate with young ladies.” Id. at 21:11–14. The district court explained that, even without regard to any sexual encounters, it viewed the text messaging and picture exchanges that informed the crimes of conviction as particularly serious, see id. at 21:20 (characterizing conduct as “way off the mark”), because, in fact, Broxmeyer was supposed to be the girls’ “mentor . . . their guardian . . . their instructor,” i.e., the person who was “supposed to show them how to act,” id. at 21:16–18. As for Broxmeyer’s denials of any but consensual sexual encounters with teenage players, the district court apparently saw no need to explore the sordid particulars of each alleged encounter to find by a preponderance that Broxmeyer had sexually assaulted teenagers in his care. It made this clear to Broxmeyer in rejecting his attempt to challenge these accusations by portraying himself as the victim of a vindictive conspiracy: [W]hen I take what you tell me as to what you didn’t do and what [defense counsel] tells me what you didn’t do and I contrast that to information I get from a number of sources that said you did do all of those things, how do you expect me to react to that? Do I have to conjure up in my mind some enormous conspiracy that all of these victims got together and said we’re going to get Broxmeyer for offending us? We’re going to tell all these lies about what he did to us sexually? Is that what I’m supposed to believe? Well, I don’t believe it for a minute . . . . Id. at 21:24–22:8. 22 Concluding that it needed to impose a sentence that protected the public and provided general and specific deterrence, see 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(B), (C), but nevertheless maintaining some hope for Broxmeyer’s eventual rehabilitation, the district court imposed the challenged 30-year sentence.15