Opinion ID: 628327
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ability to Operate a Two-Way Radio Can Be a Special Skill

Text: 16 U.S.S.G. Sec. 3B1.3 does not define the term special skills. The application notes explain that  '[s]pecial skill' refers to a skill not possessed by members of the general public and usually requiring substantial education, training or licensing. Examples would include pilots, lawyers, doctors, accountants, chemists, and demolition experts. U.S.S.G. Sec. 3B1.3, comment. (n. 2). The background note adds that the guideline applies to those who abuse ... their special skills and that such persons generally are viewed as more culpable. U.S.S.G. Sec. 3B1.3, comment. (backg'd.). 17 This circuit has not yet addressed a challenge of the sort presented by this appeal to a district court's application of the special skills enhancement. Cf. United States v. Fuente-Kolbenschlag, 878 F.2d 1377, 1380 (11th Cir.1989) (rejecting defendant's contention that to enhance for use of special skill of printing was improper double counting when offense of conviction was counterfeiting). A number of other circuits, however, have considered the meaning of special skills. See, e.g., United States v. White, 972 F.2d 590 (5th Cir.1992) (finding skills of defense lawyer with specialty in drug cases to be special skills in crime of cocaine possession), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 1651, 123 L.Ed.2d 272 (1993); United States v. Aubin, 961 F.2d 980 (1st Cir.1992) (finding skills in servicing and repairing automatic teller machines were special skills in robbery of such a machine); Connell, 960 F.2d 191 (holding that registered stockbroker used special skills to structure transactions to evade federal cash transaction reporting statutes); Hubbard, 307 F.2d at 310 (finding that knowledge of engineering and explosives were special skills in bombing); United States v. Hummer, 916 F.2d 186 (4th Cir.1990) (finding inventing skills and unique ability to tamper with consumer products to be special skills used to enhance credibility of extortionary threats to tamper with manufacturer's products), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1608, 113 L.Ed.2d 670 (1991); United States v. Talbott, 902 F.2d 1129 (4th Cir.1990) (finding bomb manufacturing skills were special skills in possession of unlawfully made destructive devices). None adopts a reading of the term which would prevent a court from enhancing a sentence on the basis that the defendant used special skills of radio operation to facilitate the commission or concealment of the crime of cocaine importation. 18 Two cases decided by other circuits, discussing whether photography skills are special skills, provide a helpful comparison. The Fifth and Ninth Circuits found that photography skills were not special skills in the absence of evidence that the defendant possessed a greater expertise in photography than the general public. United States v. Green, 962 F.2d 938, 944-45 (9th Cir.1992); United States v. Foster, 876 F.2d 377, 378 (5th Cir.1989). 2 The Foster court did not conclude that photography could never be a special skill, but instead found no evidence in that case that the defendant had any special abilities in photography. Foster, 876 F.2d at 378. Similarly, the Ninth Circuit, in Green, found that the defendant was not a professional photographer and that the record did not indicate that he had any greater photography skills than the general public; therefore, the court held that the defendant's photography skills were not special skills. Green, 962 F.2d at 945. 19 The issue in this case is analogous to that presented in Foster and Green. Although not every instance of radio operation requires skills not possessed by members of the general public, it is possible to develop expertise in that field that rises to the level of a special skill. Whether the individual's knowledge of radio frequencies, ability to set up the necessary equipment and ability to operate the radio constitute special skills is a question of fact which must be determined from the evidence in the case. 3