Opinion ID: 691961
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Vertical Departures Under Sec. 5K2.0

Text: 43 The failure to follow the category-by-category horizontal departure procedure would not matter if the district court had stated on the record an alternative reason, other than recidivism, for reaching the same result. See Williams, 503 U.S. at 201-05, 112 S.Ct. at 1120-21. Recognizing this, the government strains to distinguish Deutsch by arguing that [i]t is clear from the record that the court's decision to depart was based squarely on Tropiano's drug-trafficking activity. The government points to the district court's comment that it considered the evidence of Tropiano's drug trafficking, and that Tropiano's activities with the Cadillac and the van were part of his drug trafficking. The government argues, therefore, that these articulated concerns demonstrate that the district court was departing vertically, under 5K2.0, rather than horizontally, under 4A1.3. We conclude that the record simply does not justify a vertical departure based on defendant's drug trafficking. 44 Section 5K2.0 allows an upward departure for misconduct not leading to conviction if the defendant committed acts  'relate[d] in some way to the offense of conviction, even though not technically covered by the definition of relevant conduct.'  United States v. Uccio, 917 F.2d 80, 86 (2d Cir.1990) (quoting United States v. Kim, 896 F.2d 678, 684 (2d Cir.1990)). The district court, however, must support such a departure with findings of fact, see id., and must explain on the record how it determined the extent of the departure. See United States v. Mora, 22 F.3d 409, 413 (2d Cir.1994); Campbell, 967 F.2d at 26-27. Finally, misconduct unrelated to the offense of conviction cannot form the basis for a 5K2.0 departure. See Uccio, 917 F.2d at 86; Kim, 896 F.2d at 684. 45 The relationship here between Tropiano's drug dealing and the offense of conviction--the alteration of VINs--is not intuitively obvious. Nor can we glean from the record a sufficient factual predicate for finding the crimes related. 46 Tropiano had his fingers in several pies. He dealt drugs, ran a car theft and retagging ring, and defrauded an automobile insurance company. Perhaps these activities were all related, with Tropiano the mastermind of a multifaceted criminal enterprise. We might then have a sufficient factual predicate for a 5K2.0 departure. But, the district court made no findings of fact that Tropiano ran such an enterprise. 47 We are left, then, with two possible bases on the record for the departure. First, the government argues that Tropiano's storage of his drug records and paraphernalia in the Cadillac proves that Tropiano used the Cadillac both to conduct and to conceal his drug dealing. But, this is sheer speculation. The district court made no findings of fact that Tropiano used the car either to conceal the records or to sell drugs. And, most of the drug trafficking evidenced by the records found in the Cadillac's trunk took place long before Tropiano retagged the Cadillac. On these facts, using the Cadillac to store evidence of drug trafficking was no more related to the offense of conviction than if Tropiano had struck a pedestrian with one of the retagged vehicles while driving drunk. 48 Second, the government tries to link Tropiano's drug trafficking to the VIN offense because Tropiano, with the help of a drug customer, Stines, whose drug debt was then reduced, used the Cadillac to defraud an insurance company. We find this link too tenuous. Had Tropiano retagged the Cadillac before defrauding the insurance company, the fraud (and perhaps some of the drug trafficking) might support an upward departure: Tropiano would have committed one offense--altering a VIN--to aid another--insurance fraud--which in turn aided a third--drug trafficking. See U.S.S.G. Sec. 5K2.9; United States v. Figaro, 935 F.2d 4, 6-7 (1st Cir.1991) (where offense of conviction was committed to aid another, uncharged offense, 5K2.0 departure was justified). But this is not our case. The government concedes that Tropiano altered the Cadillac's VIN only after defrauding the insurance company. Thus, the only link between the fraud, the drug trafficking, and the offense of conviction is that Tropiano used the Cadillac to commit all three. As our drunk driving hypothetical suggests, this alone cannot support a 5K2.0 departure. 49 Of course, Tropiano could have altered the Cadillac's VIN to conceal the insurance fraud. This would support a departure. See U.S.S.G. Sec. 5K2.9. But the district court made no such finding. Even if the court had done so, there is still no explanation of why the fraud or the drug trafficking justified a seven-level offense level departure that almost doubled Tropiano's sentence. The court made no finding regarding the amount of cocaine Tropiano dealt as evidenced by the drug records. Moreover, the court did not explain why all of that drug trafficking should be considered, rather than just that amount represented by Stines' forgiven debt. We thus cannot determine whether the extent of the departure was reasonable. 50 We have reviewed carefully all of the government's arguments regarding Tropiano's sentence, and conclude that they lack merit. We do not dispute that there was evidence linking Tropiano to other serious crimes. We cannot discern, however, the basis for the finding that these crimes were related to the offense of conviction. That Tropiano was involved in other crimes in addition to altering VINs does not itself support a 5K2.0 departure. Unfortunately, the record below suggests that the district court considered little more than that, coupled with criminal history concerns, in departing upward.