Opinion ID: 1241994
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Procedural Reasonableness of Walter Bates's Sentence

Text: The second issue requiring extended discussion is the procedural reasonableness of Walter Bates's sentence. We review the district court's sentencing decisions for abuse of discretion. Gall v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 586, 594, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). This review involves a dual inquiry into both procedural and substantive reasonableness. In the context of procedural reasonableness, a district court abuses its discretion when it commits a significant procedural error, such as failing to calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range, treating the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the § 3553(a) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the chosen sentence. Id. at 597. Walter Bates challenges the district court's application of a four-level increase in his offense level under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 3D1.4 on the grounds that it failed to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Walter Bates conspired to commit the substantive conspiracy charges for which Albert Bates was convicted, as required by § 1B1.2(d). We disagree with this contention. The counting rule for general conspiracy charges is § 1B1.2(d), which reads: A conviction on a count charging a conspiracy to commit more than one offense shall be treated as if the defendant had been convicted on a separate count of conspiracy for each offense that the defendant conspired to commit. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.2(d). [4] This provision is of simple application to conspiracies involving a single object offense. However, it presents a problem when a criminal defendant is convicted of a general conspiracy charge involving more than one object offense: because guilt for conspiracy may be premised upon a single overt act, a conspiracy conviction does not speak to how many of the charged object offenses the defendant conspired to commit. To fill this gap, the Sentencing Guidelines provide that the Court should make an independent finding as to which object offenses the defendant conspired to commit: Particular care must be taken in subsection (d) because there are cases in which the verdict or plea does not establish which offense(s) was the object of the conspiracy. In such cases subsection (d) should only be applied with respect to an object offense in the conspiracy count if the court, were, it sitting as a trier of fact, would convict the defendant of conspiring to commit that object offense. Id. Application note 4 (emphasis added). Because this finding is an independent finding of guilt by the judge, the Guidelines provide it must be made as if the court were sitting as a trier of fact  i.e. beyond a reasonable doubt. See 18 U.S.C. App'x C, Amend. 75 (effective Nov. 1, 1989). Once this finding is made, the conspiracy convictions are counted under § 3D1.4. As Walter Bates points out, the judge failed to explicitly make such a finding here. However, the § 1B1.2(d) finding need not be explicit. Where it is clear from the record that the sentencing judge implicitly found that the defendant conspired to commit the object offenses at issue, the court has complied with § 1B1.2(d). See United States v. Manges, 110 F.3d 1162, 1179 (5th Cir.1997); United States v. Fisher, 22 F.3d 574, 577 (5th Cir.1994); United States v. McKinley, 995 F.2d 1020, 1026 (11th Cir.1993). As in the context of discussing the § 3553(a) factors, where the district court has clearly complied with procedural requirements, it need not say certain magic words in order to meet the baseline requirement of procedural reasonableness. See, e.g., United States v. Smith, 505 F.3d 463, 468 (6th Cir.2007). Here, the district court made an implicit finding beyond a reasonable doubt that Walter Bates conspired to commit the bank robberies for which Albert Bates was convicted. First, the district court had clearly been informed of the relevant law. The parties had previously briefed this issue, they discussed it at some length during Albert Bates's sentencing hearing the week before, and they did so again at Walter Bates's sentencing hearing. Second, the district court clearly considered which convictions he believed the Bates brothers conspired to commit and made a finding as to which should be counted. At Albert Bates's sentencing hearing, the United States argued that the court should increase the offense level by five under § 3D1.4 based upon a finding that he conspired to commit robberies beyond the five he was convicted of committing. However, the judge rejected this argument and increased the offense level only by four. This reflects a finding that Albert Bates only conspired to commit the five bank robberies for which he was convicted, because a finding that he committed any additional robberies would have required a five level increase under § 3D1.4. Likewise, at Walter Bates's sentencing hearing the district court refused to find that Walter Bates conspired to commit more than five robberies, and applied only a four level increase in the offense level under § 3D1.4. Thus, from the context of Walter Bates's sentencing hearing and that of Albert Bates the week before, the four level increase represents a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that Walter Bates was guilty of conspiracy to commit only five robberies  the one for which he and Albert were both convicted (count 8), plus the four additional robberies Albert Bates was convicted of committing (counts 1, 3-5, and 7). This makes sense: it was clear from the facts presented at trial and found by the jury that Walter and Albert Bates conspired to rob banks together, and that the robberies Albert Bates was convicted of rose out of that same conspiracy. They were very close together in time, were factually very similar, and they were connected to Walter Bates by both circumstantial evidence and the testimony of co-conspirator Kevin Foster-Bey. In light of these things, it would be difficult for the district court to find that there was reasonable doubt as to whether Walter Bates conspired to commit the robberies for which Albert Bates was convicted. Consequently, it was not procedurally unreasonable for the district court to fail to explain its finding in greater detail. The required finding was implicit in what it did and was sufficiently clear from the broader context of the sentencing hearings and the facts found at trial.