Opinion ID: 2485
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Parker's Criminal History Category

Text: Parker argues that the district court erroneously calculated his Sentencing Guidelines range by using prior marijuana possession convictions to support a Criminal History category of V. We review this alleged procedural error for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Cavera, 550 F.3d 180, 189-90 (2d Cir.2008) ( en banc ). In fact, we need not here decide whether the district court erred in calculating Parker's criminal history category, because any error would be harmless. See United States v. Jass, 569 F.3d 47, 68 (2d Cir.2009) (applying harmless error analysis to Guidelines calculation challenge). The challenged sentence is below the Guidelines range and dictated by statutory mandated minimums: 120 months' incarceration on Count V (ordered to run concurrently with equal or lesser sentences imposed on Counts II, III, IV, VI, and VII); and a mandated consecutive sentence of 60 months on Count I, see 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(D)(ii). Taken together, Parker's aggregate sentence of 180 months represented the lowest term of incarceration permitted by law in the absence of a substantial assistance motion from the government pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e), see also U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1, which was not made in this case. Under these circumstances, any error in the calculation of Parker's criminal history was necessarily harmless as it could not have supported any lesser sentence. Thus, we may affirm the judgment without addressing this asserted error. See United States v. Sharpley, 399 F.3d 123, 127 (2d Cir.2005) (declining to address asserted sentencing error because, where sentence set at mandatory minimum, any reduction in the calculated Guidelines range could not reduce [defendant]'s actual sentence, and was therefore harmless); see also 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) (providing district courts with ability to depart below mandatory minimum sentence only upon motion from government to reflect defendant's substantial assistance in the investigation).