Opinion ID: 2798921
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Forfeiture and sentencing

Text: At the outset of the December 3, 2013 forfeiture hearing, Ushery’s counsel informed the district court that Ushery “desired to forego the hearing in lieu of a settlement.” The court promptly approved the parties’ settlement agreement, which provided for the forfeiture of the currency, guns, and ammunition and the return of the boxes of baseball cards, pocket digital scale, and backpack containing personal items. That left only sentencing. The Presentence Report (PSR), prepared in November 2013, calculated Ushery’s adjusted offense level at 18, starting with a base offense level of 14 and adding two two-level enhancements. But the PSR also found that the career-offender enhancement applied, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, such that Ushery’s actual base offense level was 34, regardless of the adjusted offense level. After reducing his offense level for the acceptance of responsibility, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a), Ushery’s total offense level became 31. That offense level, combined with a criminal history category of VI, produced a Guidelines range of 188 to 235 months in prison. At the December 17, 2013 sentencing hearing, the district court first determined what Ushery’s adjusted offense level would have been in the absence of the career-offender enhancement. The court agreed with the PSR that a two-level enhancement applied for possessing a firearm and that another two-level enhancement applied for making a credible threat to use violence (against a government official and his family). In addition, the court found applicable a two-level enhancement for obstructing justice (by swallowing two bags of heroin during the pursuit) and a two-level enhancement for recklessly creating a substantial risk of No. 14-5046 United States v. Ushery Page 9 serious bodily injury (to a law-enforcement officer) in the course of fleeing. Ushery’s adjusted offense level was therefore 22 and not 18. But as the court pointed out, that had no actual effect on Ushery’s Guidelines calculation because the base offense level for career offenders is 34. The court agreed with the PSR that, with a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility and a criminal history category of VI, Ushery’s advisory Guidelines range was 188 to 235 months in prison. The district court next considered the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors. It emphasized that Ushery has “been a drug trafficker for practically [his] entire life in one way, shape or fashion.” The court also pointed out that other enhancements that would have applied—for possession of a firearm, threatening to use violence, obstruction of justice, and reckless endangerment during flight—were not taken into account by the career-offender enhancement that ultimately applied. Referring again to those aggravating factors, the court expressed the need to impose “[a] sentence that reflects the serious[ness] of the offense.” It specifically noted the damage that Ushery had caused: “Your flight caused an injury that caused a police officer to ultimately retire. Your flight caused property damage to an individual who came here for the sentencing today.” The court further pointed to Ushery’s “very significant” criminal history (including more than 10 juvenile and 20 adult convictions) and reasoned that prior sentences had had “no deterrent effect” on Ushery thus far. As for potentially mitigating factors, the district court noted Ushery’s difficult upbringing, his mental-health problems, and the small amount of drugs at issue in the present case. Nevertheless, the court decided that “a variance upward is necessary to reflect the seriousness of the offense and to provide just punishment as well as protect the public, given the fact that the defendant has been a menace to society practically his entire life.” It also noted that “a sentence [of 120 months] as requested by the defendant would create a disparity among similarly situated defendants convicted of similar offenses.” The district court ultimately sentenced Ushery to 252 months of imprisonment, an upward variance of 17 months from the top of the applicable Guidelines range, to be followed by ten years of supervised release, which was within the Guidelines range of six years to life. No. 14-5046 United States v. Ushery Page 10 Ushery timely filed this appeal in January 2014, after the court granted him an extension of time to do so.