Opinion ID: 520307
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Sentence Enhancement Under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575

Text: 29 Towne challenges the enhancement of his sentence on Counts 1, 3, 4, and 5 pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575 on three grounds: (1) that the district court lacked the authority to enhance his sentence because Sec. 3575 was repealed two months before he was adjudged a dangerous special offender and five months before he was sentenced; (2) that the district court's characterization of defendant as dangerous pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575(f) lacked any factual basis; and (3) that the total sentence of forty years on these four counts exceeded the statutory maximum, because 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575 only authorizes a maximum aggregate term of twenty-five years for all counts of conviction. 30 We find appellant's first and second points to be without merit. While it is true that 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575 was repealed prior to Towne's sentencing by the district judge, 1 the statute was in effect at the time that the underlying offenses were committed and at the time Towne was convicted. Under 1 U.S.C. Sec. 109, which is the general federal saving statute, penalties accruing while a statute is in force may be enforced after expiration of that statute, unless the statute expressly provides otherwise. See Warden v. Marrero, 417 U.S. 653, 661, 94 S.Ct. 2532, 2537, 41 L.Ed.2d 383 (1974). Hence, the application of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575's sentence enhancement provisions was saved by operation of 1 U.S.C. Sec. 109. As for appellant's second claim, we note only that the district court's classification of Towne as dangerous under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575(f) was amply supported by the record. Towne's long history of violent criminal behavior more than justified the district court's finding that Towne was a dangerous special offender within the meaning of Sec. 3575. 31 Appellant's third claim presents a question which has not been explicitly resolved heretofore. Appellant argues that 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575 only permits a court to sentence a defendant to a total of twenty-five years on all counts of conviction, and that his forty-year sentence on Counts 1, 3, 4, and 5 therefore exceeds the statutory maximum provided in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575. In so arguing, appellant relies on this Court's decision in United States v. DiFrancesco, 604 F.2d 769, 780 n. 13 (2d Cir.1979), rev'd on other grounds, 449 U.S. 117, 101 S.Ct. 426, 66 L.Ed.2d 328 (1980), wherein we reserved judgment on the question whether Sec. 3575 authorizes the imposition of consecutive sentences [on multiple counts] totaling more than twenty-five years. In this case, appellant's sentences on each of the four counts, taken separately, were well within the statutory maximum of twenty-five years, 2 but because the district judge imposed them as consecutive terms, the aggregate term of imprisonment was forty years. 32 In the wake of any prior reservations, we now hold that with respect to dangerous special offenders who have been convicted of multiple felonies prior to November 1, 1987, Sec. 3575 does not preclude the imposition of consecutive sentences which, in the aggregate, exceed twenty-five years, so long as each individual sentence does not exceed twenty-five years. Eighteen U.S.C. Sec. 3575 plainly states that [w]henever an attorney charged with the prosecution of a defendant ... for an alleged felony ... has reason to believe that the defendant is a dangerous special offender, he shall file appropriate notice with the court of his intention to seek an enhanced sentence in the event of conviction. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575(a) (emphasis added). Section 3575 further provides that [i]f it appears ... that the defendant is a dangerous special offender, the court shall sentence the defendant to imprisonment for an appropriate term not to exceed twenty-five years and not disproportionate in severity to the maximum term otherwise authorized by law for such felony. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575(b) (emphasis added). We read the words such felony to mean that the statutory limit of twenty-five years only applies to individual felonies, and we conclude that the statute does not limit the aggregate sentence that a district judge may impose. See United States v. Scott, 859 F.2d 792, 796 (9th Cir.1988) (holding that prosecutor was entitled to seek separate sentence enhancements under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3575 for each one of the felonies alleged in the indictment) (emphasis added); see also United States v. Calabrese, 755 F.2d 302, 306 (2d Cir.1985) (court impliedly recognized that 25-year limitation of Sec. 3575 applies on a per count basis, rather than to the aggregate sentence). Since the language of the statute is clear and unambiguous on its face, there is no need to examine the underlying legislative history. See Burlington Northern Railroad Co. v. Oklahoma Tax Commission, 481 U.S. 454, 461, 107 S.Ct. 1855, 1860, 95 L.Ed.2d 404 (1987) (Unless exceptional circumstances dictate otherwise, '[w]hen we find the terms of a statute unambiguous, judicial inquiry is complete.' ) (quoting Rubin v. United States, 449 U.S. 424, 430, 101 S.Ct. 698, 701, 66 L.Ed.2d 633 (1981)). 3 Accordingly, we affirm Towne's sentence as to Counts 1, 3, 4, and 5. 33