Opinion ID: 204743
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Pre-Sentence Investigation Report and Objections

Text: The United States Probation Office in the Northern District of New York prepared a Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) following Conca's guilty plea. The PSR found a base offense level of 16 pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2A3.5(a)(1), since Conca was classified as a Tier III Sex Offender under the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 16911(4). Because it appeared from the records of the Oklahoma County Court that Conca committed the crime of Rape in the First Degree involving a 28-year-old victim while he was in failure to register status in Oklahoma City on August 13, 2008, a 6-point enhancement was applied pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2A3.5(b)(1)(A). After allowing a 3-point downward adjustment, the base offense level was set at 19. In calculating Conca's criminal history score, the PSR counted the following convictions: Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, Fourth Degree, Fulton County Court (3 points); False Written Statement, Glen Town Court (1 point); Aggravated Unlicensed Operation, Gloversville City Court (1 point); Burglary, Third Degree, Fulton County Court (2 points); Petit Larceny, Johnstown City Court (1 point); Felony Sexual Assault, 41st District Court, El Paso, Texas (3 points); and Unauthorized Use of Motor Vehicle, Fulton County Court (1 point). To the total of 12 points assigned to the foregoing convictions, 2 points were added because Conca committed the offense giving rise to the judgment subject of this appeal less than two years after release from imprisonment in Texas on April 18, 2008. See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(e). According to the Sentencing Table, the total of 14 points thus calculated established a criminal history category of VI. With a base offense level of 19 and a criminal history category of VI, the PSR noted that the Guidelines range for imprisonment was 63 to 78 months. See U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL Ch. 5, pt. A, sentencing table (2009). It appears from the PSR that the first offense of conviction described in the preceding paragraph, Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Fourth Degree, a felony, involved unlawful possession of a credit card and that Conca was adjudicated a youthful offender in Fulton County Court with respect to that conviction on November 27, 1996. As such, he was sentenced on January 7, 1997, to time served (106 days) and five years probation. Conca's probation was revoked upon his new arrests for Criminal Contempt in the First Degree (felony), Assault in the Third Degree (misdemeanor), and Criminal Mischief in the Fourth Degree (misdemeanor), and he was resentenced to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of 1-3 years on September 10, 1997. Conca was released on parole on June 4, 1998, following completion of a shock incarceration program administered by the New York State Department of Correctional Services. See N.Y. CORRECT. LAW §§ 865-67 (McKinney Supp.2010) (describing shock incarceration program). He was discharged from parole on May 3, 2000. Conca objected to the PSR's application of a 6-level enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2A3.5(b)(1)(A), which provides for such an enhancement [i]f, while in a failure to register status, the defendant committed . . . a sex offense against someone other than a minor. The probation office responded by referring to evidence indicating that Conca had committed Rape in the First Degree against a 28-year-old woman in Oklahoma City on August 13, 2008, a time when he was in failure to report status. Conca also objected to the PSR's inclusion of his 1996 conviction for Criminal Possession of Stolen Property in the Fourth Degree in the calculation of his criminal history score. With respect to that objection, Conca contended that, since he was 16 years of age at the time of conviction and treated as a youthful offender by the state of New York, he was not convicted as an adult. Relying on U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(d)(2)(A) (allowing a juvenile sentence to be included in criminal history score only if the defendant was released from . . . confinement within five years of his commencement of the instant offense), Conca asserts that the 1996 offense falls outside the time period for countable sentences. The probation office responded to this argument by maintaining that youthful offender adjudications are different from juvenile adjudications in family court, that Conca was sentenced to adult probation in adult criminal court, and that he served his sentence upon revocation of probation in an adult correctional facility. Accordingly, the probation office maintained that Conca's youthful offender adjudication constituted an adult conviction within the meaning of the Sentencing Guidelines and therefore was subject to the scoring provisions of U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(a), based upon the revocation sentence of 1-3 years.