Opinion ID: 691351
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rejection of 14-month credit

Text: 53 Harvey's second issue also is one on which he and the government, as well as the probation department, were in accord. The parties had agreed that Harvey should receive credit for 12 months served in the District of Kansas and two additional months served in state jurisdictions because the conduct punished by those sentences was part of the conspiracy charged in this case, and consequently was taken into account in establishing Harvey's base offense level. Both parties therefore urged a 14-month downward departure from the Guidelines sentence. 54 This request was derived from U.S.S.G. Sec. 5G1.3, which provides that a term of imprisonment should be imposed to run concurrently when a defendant is serving an undischarged term of imprisonment for offense(s) that have been fully taken into account in the determination of the offense level for the instant offense. In essence, this provision insures that a defendant is not penalized twice for the same conduct. It therefore provides that, when the conduct underlying the earlier conviction affects the sentence in the later case, the later sentence must run concurrently to the undischarged portion of the earlier sentence. Additionally, Application Note 2 to Sec. 5G1.3 states that the court should adjust for any term of imprisonment already served as a result of the earlier conduct. 15 55 Section 5G1.3 on its face does not apply to Harvey because, by the time of his sentencing in Milwaukee, he had completed his term for the related conduct in Kansas and therefore had no relevant undischarged term of imprisonment. 16 The probation office in this case apparently recognized that the rationale underlying Sec. 5G1.3--to avoid double punishment--nevertheless was applicable to a defendant like Harvey, who had fully discharged his prior term. It sought guidance from the Sentencing Commission, which suggested that a downward departure would be the appropriate way to recognize such a defendant's prior time in prison. 56 Despite the joint request, the district court declined to give Harvey the credit because, when he was arrested in Kansas, he had identified himself falsely. This misidentification caused him to be placed in a lower criminal history category under the Guidelines for that offense, which in all likelihood resulted in a lower sentence than he should have received. 17 When the court articulated this concern, the prosecutor explained that the length of the earlier term should make no difference in the present case because, even if Harvey had received a longer sentence in Kansas, any additional time served there would have been included in the parties' request for a downward departure. In other words, the prosecutor indicated, had he served an additional twelve months in Kansas, the proper departure request would have been for 26 months--the 14 months actually being requested plus the additional twelve. Thus, the total time served on the conduct, taking both prosecutions together, would be unaffected by Harvey's false identification. 57 The case law in this circuit clearly establishes that a district court's refusal to depart from the sentencing range determined by the Guidelines is discretionary and not subject to review. See, e.g., United States v. Harris, 994 F.2d 412, 414-15 (7th Cir.1993); United States v. Poff, 926 F.2d 588, 590-91 (7th Cir.1991) (en banc). Although language in two of our prior cases suggests that there may exist a narrow exception to this rule anchored in Sec. 5G1.3, see United States v. Sarna, 28 F.3d 657, 658-59 (7th Cir.1994); United States v. Lechuga, 975 F.2d 397, 400-01 (7th Cir.1992), 18 a downward departure was not actually at issue in either of those cases. Both defendants were serving undischarged sentences, which meant that any reduction in sentence linked to Sec. 5G1.3 could be accomplished without a departure. 19 Consequently, neither Lechuga nor Sarna provided us with the opportunity to consider the interplay of the statement regarding downward departures with the jurisdictional rule foreclosing review of a district court's decision not to depart. 58 We recognize that distinguishing between two defendants merely by virtue of their sentencing dates appears contrary to the Guidelines goal of eliminating unwarranted sentence disparities, Lechuga, 975 F.2d at 400. 20 The Sentencing Commission, as evidenced by its recommendation of a downward departure, seemingly also appreciates the illogic of this distinction. In light of the clear precedent, however, see supra at 1241-42, we must conclude that the district court's decision not to depart on that basis is, like any other refusal to depart, unreviewable. 21 Cf. United States v. Ogg, 992 F.2d 265, 266-67 (10th Cir.1993) (rejecting credit for completed state sentence because Sec. 5G1.3(b) literally does not apply). 59 Although we may not directly review the district court's rejection of a departure, we do encourage the court upon remand to reconsider its decision. The district judge refused to depart downward here simply because Harvey received a lesser sentence than he should have received in Kansas, essentially offsetting the requested 14 months of credit with the extra year he thought Harvey was supposed to serve on the earlier charge. Because, as the prosecutor explained, any additional sentence in Kansas properly should have been added to his credit, the mistake in Kansas does not provide a basis for denying the departure here. Assuming Harvey would have been eligible for the 14-month credit if he still were serving the prior terms at issue, we think it would be fair and appropriate to deduct that amount from the new sentence imposed on the instant offense. 60 Accordingly, we affirm Blackwell's sentence, and remand Harvey's case to the district court for a new hearing and resentencing.