Opinion ID: 71382
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Firearm-Related Increase in Offense Level

Text: 7 Under the sentencing guidelines, the base offense level for robbery is increased by 5 if the defendant brandishes, displays, or possesses a firearm. U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(C). A defendant may also be held accountable at sentencing for a co-conspirator's possession of a firearm if certain circumstances are present. United States v. Kimmons, 965 F.2d 1001, 1011 (11th Cir.1992) (robbery conspiracy defendant's base offense level increased under § 2B3.1(b)(2)(C) where co-conspirators possessed firearms), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1086, 113 S.Ct. 1065, 122 L.Ed.2d 370, cert. granted, judgment vacated and case remanded on other grounds sub nom. Small v. United States, 508 U.S. 902, 113 S.Ct. 2326, 124 L.Ed.2d 239, judgment reinstated, 1 F.3d 1144 (11th Cir.1993); see also Aduwo, 64 F.3d at 629-30 (gun conspiracy defendant's base offense level increased under § 2K2.1(c) where co-conspirator possessed a firearm); United States v. Otero, 890 F.2d 366, 367 (11th Cir.1989) (drug conspiracy defendant's base offense level increased under § 2D1.1(b) where co-conspirator possessed a firearm). The rationale for attributing the possession of a firearm by one co-conspirator to another is the Pinkerton rule that conspirators are liable for the reasonably foreseeable acts of their co-conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy. Aduwo, 64 F.3d at 629 (citing Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946)), Otero, 890 F.2d at 367 (same); see also U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B) (relevant conduct for conspiracy offense includes all reasonably foreseeable acts of others in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal activity.). 8 Otero set out a three-part test for determining whether attributing another person's possession of a weapon to the defendant was proper: first, the possessor must be charged as a co-conspirator; second, the co-conspirator must be found to have been possessing a firearm in furtherance of the conspiracy; and third, the defendant who is to receive the enhanced sentence must have been a member of the conspiracy at the time of the firearms possession. 890 F.2d at 367. Luiz and Griffith concede that the second and third Otero factors are met in this case, but they argue that the first factor is not met because Settle was not charged or named as a co-conspirator in the same indictment with them. The Government responds by arguing that the first Otero requirement is dictum, and alternatively that Settle was unavailable for indictment when Luiz and Griffith were indicted because he had already been charged and convicted on charges involving these robberies. See United States v. Louis, 967 F.2d 1550, 1553-54 (11th Cir.1992) (holding that possessing co-conspirators were unavailable for indictment because they were never identified); United States v. Nino, 967 F.2d 1508 (11th Cir.1992) (holding that possessing co-conspirators were unavailable because one died and one was granted immunity). The district court held that the first factor of the Otero test was dictum. 9 We agree with the district court. In Nino, we noted that Otero, like any other judicial opinion, must be read in the context of the facts of that case. 967 F.2d at 1514. The Otero court was not faced with the question whether a defendant could be sentenced based on the possession of a firearm by an uncharged or unnamed coconspirator because the co-conspirators in that case were named and charged as co-conspirators. 890 F.2d at 367. As Nino explains, the rationale of the first Otero factor is to avoid[ ] artificial sentence enhancement for firearm possession when the weapon is actually or constructively possessed by a person outside the conspiracy. This rationale is satisfied if the possessor of the firearm is a co-conspirator of the defendant whose sentence is enhanced. 3 The district court found that Luiz, Griffith and Settle were co-conspirators. Thus, it was not error to attribute Settle's possession of a firearm to Luiz and Griffith despite the fact that Settle was not indicted in this case.