Opinion ID: 761765
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Park's Sentence

Text: 10 Under the Sentencing Guidelines that were in effect when Park was sentenced originally, a district court must increase the base offense level for robbery by three levels if a dangerous weapon (including a firearm) was brandished, displayed, or possessed. USSG 2B3.1(b)(2)(C). If a defendant is sentenced for the use of a firearm under § 924(c) in connection with a particular robbery, the offense level for that robbery cannot also be enhanced under section 2B3.1(b)(2)(C) for brandishing that firearm. See USSG § 2K2.4, comment. (n.2); USSG § 3D1.1, comment. (n.1); see also United States v. Duran, 4 F.3d 800, 804 (9th Cir.1993) (holding that district court erred in applying two-level adjustment for a death threat in addition to a § 924(c) conviction). 8 Specifically, Note 2 of the commentary to section 2K2.4 provides: Where a sentence under [§ 924(c) ] is imposed in conjunction with a sentence for an underlying offense, any specific offense characteristic for the possession, use, or discharge of a firearm ... is not to be applied ... for the underlying offense. The commentary to the Guidelines is authoritative unless it violates the Constitution or a federal statute, or is inconsistent with, or a plainly erroneous reading of, that guideline. Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36, 38, 113 S.Ct. 1913, 123 L.Ed.2d 598 (1993). Park argues that the term underlying offense in this Application Note should be interpreted to cover all crimes with which the firearm sentence will run consecutively, such that a three-level enhancement for brandishing a firearm could not be applied to his offense level where he also was being sentenced for a § 924(c) firearm violation. 11 The Ninth Circuit already has rejected the interpretation of underlying offense as covering all crimes with which the firearm count will run consecutively. See United States v. Nakagawa, 924 F.2d 800, 805 (9th Cir.1991) (affirming sentence where underlying offense for firearm-based sentencing enhancement differed from underlying offense of § 924(c) firearm count). This type of sentence does not constitute impermissible double counting. Under the Sentencing Guidelines, impermissible double counting occurs 'where one part of the Guidelines is applied to increase a defendant's punishment on account of a kind of harm that has already been fully accounted for by the application of another part of the Guidelines.'  Willett, 90 F.3d at 407 (quoting United States v. Reese, 2 F.3d 870, 895 (9th Cir.1993)). Double counting is permissible [w]hen more than one kind of harm is attributable to a given aspect of a defendant's conduct. Reese, 2 F.3d at 895. In this case, Park is being punished only once for brandishing a firearm in each robbery--via sentencing enhancements for the October and December robberies, and via a § 924(c) firearm sentence for the November robbery. These sentencing enhancements do not constitute impermissible double counting. 12 Several other circuit courts have reached the same conclusion:  '[T]he underlying offense' must be the crime during which, by using the gun, the defendant violated § 924(c). United States v. Mrazek, 998 F.2d 453, 454-55 (7th Cir.1993); see also United States v. McCarthy, 77 F.3d 522, 536-37 (1st Cir.1996); United States v. Blake, 59 F.3d 138, 139-41 (10th Cir.1995). The Sentencing Guidelines do not preclude the enhancement of Park's sentence on two counts of robbery for brandishing a firearm in addition to a § 924(c) firearm sentence in relation to a third robbery count. 13 The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.