Opinion ID: 771391
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Double Counting Som's Use of Firearms

Text: 44 Section 2K2.4 of the Guidelines covers a defendant's use of a firearm, armor-piercing ammunition, or explosives during or in relation to certain crimes, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 844(h), 924(c), or 929(a). Application Note 2 of this section provides: 45 Where a sentence under this section is imposed in conjunction with a sentence for an underlying offense, any specific offense characteristic for the possession, use, or discharge of an explosive or firearm (e.g., § 2B3.1(b)(2)(A)-(F) (Robbery)) is not to be applied in respect to the guideline for the underlying offense. 46 U.S.S.G. § 2K2.4 Application n.2. Som asserts that pursuant to Application Note 2, adding a seven-level firearm enhancement to his offense level for the Florida Robbery and imposing a consecutive sentence for violation of § 924(c) in connection with the New York Robbery, constitutes improper double counting. 3 47 Som acknowledges that the same conduct is not being punished twice because the § 924(c) conviction and sentence was for the use of a firearm in the New York Robbery on July 17, 1996, and the offense-level enhancement was for the discharge of a different firearm in the Florida Robbery on July 1, 1996. Instead, Som argues that the grouping of the Florida Robbery with the New York Robbery for purposes of determining an adjusted offense level, which included a firearms enhancement, caused the Florida Robbery to become an underlying offense for purposes of Application Note 2. He also argues that this Court should apply the rule of lenity when interpreting this Guidelines provision. 48 Som did not raise this issue below and therefore concedes that this Court reviews the imposition of the firearms enhancement for plain error. Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(b). Som acknowledges that the First, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits have rejected his argument, but asks this Court to exercise its own judgment and find double counting in this instance. We join our sister circuits in rejecting Som's proffered interpretation of U.S.S.G. § 2K2.4 Application Note 2. 49 Som first argues that we should apply the rule of lenity when interpreting Application Note 2. The rule of lenity requires the sentencing court to impose the lesser of two penalties where there is an actual ambiguity over which penalty should apply. United States v. Canales, 91 F.3d 363, 367 (2d Cir. 1996) (internal quotations omitted). Where a provision is not ambiguous, however, the Court need not apply the rule of lenity. Seeid. at 367-68 (The rule is inapplicable unless 'after a court has seize[d][on] every thing from which aid can be derived, it is still left with an amigu[ity].') (quoting Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453, 463 (1991)). More importantly, the particular provision must be facially ambiguous as well as ambiguous as applied to the particular defendant. Id. at 368 (citing United States v. Plaza Health Lab., Inc., 3 F.3d 643, 646, 649 (2d Cir. 1993)). In other words, a defendant is afforded lenity only where a penal provision did not accord him fair warning of the sanctions the law placed on that conduct. Plaza Health, 3 F.3d at 649. 50 This Court has not decided whether the rule of lenity applies to interpretation of the Guidelines, 4 and we need not decide the issue here because Application Note 2 is not ambiguous as applied to Som. Application Note 2 clearly does not apply to sentencing for offenses that have nothing to do with the firearms count for which the ten-year consecutive sentence is being imposed. Thus the rule of lenity will not be applied in this case. 51 The interpretation of Application Note 2 pressed upon us by Som is simply not a logical interpretation. Application Note 2 seeks to prevent enhancement of a base offense level, which increases the guidelines range of imprisonment, and imposition of a consecutive sentence, for a defendant's using or carrying a firearm in relation to one offense. Accordingly, Som may be punished once for the conduct of discharging a firearm in the course of the Florida Robbery (through a seven-level enhancement to the base offense level for that crime), and once for the conduct of using a different firearm in relation to the New York Robbery (through imposition of a consecutive sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)). This properly reflects his use of a firearm in two separate offenses. Furthermore, the multiple-count grouping of the Florida and New York Robberies for purposes of determining a combined offense level does not convert the Florida Robbery into an underlying offense of the section 924(c) violation for purposes of Application Note 2. As set out in U.S.S.G. § 1B1.1(d), specific offense enhancements are determined prior to grouping, and the offense level for each of the multiple counts is not readjusted after grouping. 52 In United States v. Mrazek, 998 F.2d 453 (7th Cir. 1993), the Seventh Circuit rejected the very interpretation of Application Note 2 urged upon us in this case: 53 Mrazek observes that the grouping rules convert multiple counts into the equivalent of a single count with a single offense level and sentencing range. The operation of the grouping rules produces a final offense level dominated by the most serious offense. Because the first two robberies were enhanced by five levels for the use of the gun, they became the foundation for the final offense level. That, Mrazek insists, is double counting: in the end, his sentence reflected both a five level enhancement for the use of a gun and the five year consecutive sentence. 54 Nothing has been counted twice. There were three robberies, all armed. The gun was taken into account once per robbery - via § 2B3.1(b)(2)(C) [enhancement] for the first two robberies and via § 924(c) [firearms conviction] for the third robbery. . . . [W]hy should three armed robberies be treated identically to one armed and two unarmed robberies? 55 Id. at 455. The court also specifically rejected the assertion that grouping multiple offenses turned all of the multiple offenses into underlying offenses: 56 Mrazek contends that after grouping the offenses lose their distinctness, so that all three robberies are the underlying offense. But grouping comes after the offense level has been determined for each separate crime; the grouping process does not call for redetermination of the offense level applicable to each crime. Thus the underlying offense must be the crime during which, by using the gun, the defendant violated § 924(c). See United States v. Nakagawa, 924 F.2d 800, 805 (9th Cir. 1991); United States v. Kimmons, 965 F.2d 1001, 1011 (11th Cir. 1992). Application Note 2 is not ambiguous. . . . The Guidelines do not require the court to treat the other two robberies as if they had been unarmed. 57 Id.; see also United States v. Chin-Sung Park, 167 F.3d 1258, 1261 (9th Cir. 1999); United States v. McCarthy, 77 F.3d 522, 536 (1st Cir. 1996); United States v. Blake, 59 F.3d 138, 140 (10th Cir. 1995) (Were we to accept the defendant's proposed interpretation, once there was a separate statutory firearm conviction, no other crime which happened to involve a firearm where the sentence could run consecutively, could have its base offense level enhanced for the use of the firearm.). We agree with this reasoning in Mrazek. 58 Application Note 2 is not ambiguous as applied to Som. The district court properly applied the Guidelines to enhance Som's offense level for discharge of a firearm in the Florida Robbery, notwithstanding that Som was already subject to a mandatory consecutive sentence for the use of a different firearm in the New York Robbery. On remand, the court may apply the Guidelines in the same manner, except that the mandatory consecutive sentence will be five years instead of ten years.