Opinion ID: 4424939
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Trials and Sentencing

Text: A federal grand jury indicted the defendants on charges of kidnapping, making a ransom demand, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, and being felons in possession of firearms. See 18 U.S.C. § 875(a) (ransom demand); § 922(g)(1) (felon in possession of firearm); § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii) (possessing firearm during and in furtherance of crime of violence); § 1201 (kidnapping). In three separate trials, juries convicted Fields and Mzembe on all counts and convicted Brazier on only the kidnapping and ransom charges. Brazier was tried and sentenced first. One issue under the Sentencing Guidelines was how to categorize Harris’s injuries under U.S.S.G. §2A4.1(b)(2)(A), which adds four levels for “permanent or life-threatening bodily injury,” two levels for “serious bodily injury,” or three levels for something in between. Brazier argued that he should not receive a four-level enhancement because the injury Harris suﬀered was not permanent or life-threatening. The court overruled the objection, explaining that the defendants had denied Harris medical care for his serious injuries and applying a four-level increase. The court sentenced Brazier to a total of 444 months in prison, with consecutive prison terms of 240 months for kidnapping and 204 months for demanding a ransom. The court sentenced Mzembe to a total of 528 months in prison. The sentence included a combined 408 months for kidnapping, demanding a ransom, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court then added a mandatory Nos. 16-4258, 17-1060, 17-1412, 17-2268 & 17-2269 5 consecutive term of 120 months (ten years) under § 924(c) for discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The court sentenced Fields to a total of 656 months in prison, with 536 months for the kidnapping, ransom, and felon-in-possession charges, plus a mandatory consecutive term of 120 months for his § 924(c) conviction. In imposing the 536-month prison term, the court applied a two-level enhancement under § 2A4.1(b) because “a dangerous weapon was used” in the crime. The district court also ordered all three defendants to pay more than $190,000 in restitution for Harris’s injuries.1 The court held Fields, Mzembe, and Brazier jointly and severally liable for that amount. Mzembe and Brazier objected to restitution under the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act on the theory that kidnapping is not a “crime of violence” subject to that Act. The district court accepted this argument but decided to order restitution under the Victim and Witness Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3663.