Opinion ID: 166669
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Booker/Blakely—Sentencing and Restitution

Text: 55 Mr. Visinaiz argues that, following United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), the district court erred in calculating his sentence. Aplt. Br. at 83. Mr. Visinaiz has properly preserved this argument by objecting at sentencing that, under Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), the district court erroneously took into account judge-found facts in applying a four-level enhancement to his base offense level. IX R. Tr. at 24-25, 45. The district court adopted the PSR's recommendations for two separate two-level enhancement for obstructing justice and a vulnerable victim. Id. at 46. Where a defendant preserves a potential Booker error, we will remand if the error was not harmless, that is, if the error may have affected the defendant's substantial rights. See United States v. Labastida-Segura, 396 F.3d 1140, 1142-43; Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a). 56 There are two types of error under Booker: non-constitutional error and constitutional error. United States v. Gonzalez-Huerta, 403 F.3d 727, 731 (10th Cir.2005) (en banc). Non-constitutional error derives from the so-called remedial portion of Booker, which severed the statutory provision requiring mandatory application of the Sentencing Guidelines in most cases. Booker, 125 S.Ct. at 764 (severing 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b)(1)). This severance has rendered the Guidelines mainly advisory, although sentencing courts must still consult the Guidelines and the factors of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Id. at 767. Appellate courts will reverse a sentence if it is deemed unreasonable. Id. Constitutional Booker error, on the other hand, occurs in the context of a mandatory sentencing regime when a judge-found fact (other than the fact of a prior conviction) increases a defendant's sentence beyond the maximum authorized by a jury verdict or a guilty plea through the court's application of the mandatory guidelines. Id. at 756. 57 In this case, because the district court did not consider the guidelines mandatory, there was no Booker error, constitutional or non-constitutional. Despite the fact that the court sentenced Mr. Visinaiz before Booker was decided, the district court apparently divined that the Supreme Court would strike down the mandatory application of the Sentencing Guidelines. IX R. Tr. at 46. At sentencing, the district court acknowledged the Guidelines, but sentenced Mr. Visinaiz to a discretionary non-mandatory 262 months. Id. at 46 (I'm going to ... impose a sentence in this case of 262 months.... [H]owever, that is not under the Sentencing Guidelines, that's a sentence that I've imposed, having looked at all the relevant factors and made my own decision as to how [the sentence] ought to be imposed in this case.). Therefore, because the district court did not treat the Sentencing Guidelines as mandatory, there can be no non-constitutional Booker error in Mr. Visinaiz's sentence. See United States v. Serrano-Dominguez, 406 F.3d 1221, 1222-23 (10th Cir.2005). Similarly, although the district court did use judge-found facts to enhance Mr. Visinaiz's base offense level from 33 to 37, see IX R. Tr. at 45-46, he did so under a non-mandatory paradigm. 58 Therefore, this case does not implicate Booker. Booker, quite clearly, does not prohibit the district court from making factual findings and applying the enhancements and adjustments to Mr. Visinaiz's sentence as long as it did not view or apply the Guidelines as mandatory. Booker, 125 S.Ct. at 750 (If the Guidelines as currently written could be read as merely advisory provisions that recommended, rather than required, the selection of particular sentences in response to differing sets of facts, their use would not implicate the Sixth Amendment.); United States v. Lawrence, 405 F.3d 888, 907 (10th Cir.2005); United States v. Rodriguez, 398 F.3d 1291, 1300-01 (11th Cir.2005). That is, if the district court sentences the defendant using the Guidelines as advisory, there is no Sixth Amendment violation. Lawrence, 405 F.3d at 907. That is precisely what the district court did here. 59 Further, even assuming there was constitutional error, it was harmless. Mr. Visinaiz received a two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice based on his own admissions. See Aplt. Br. at 37-38; VII R. Tr. 541-42 (testimony of Mr. Visinaiz); VII R. Tr. 588-596 (same); V R. Tr. 135-37 (testimony of Special Agent Wright); VI R. Tr. at 321, 324-27 (testimony of Special Agent Cizeck). With regard to the vulnerable victim enhancement, the evidence was overwhelming that this 68 year old, overweight, physically handicapped person was incapable of defending herself against her younger, more fit assailant. See VI R. Tr. at 229-30, 352. Therefore, we are satisfied that there was no constitutional Booker error in either the two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice or the two-level enhancement for a vulnerable victim.
60 Mr. Visinaiz argues that the district court's amended restitution award pursuant to the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA), 18 U.S.C. §§ 3663A, 3664, of $107,000 is unreasonable under Booker. Aplt. Br. at 86. We review the legality of a restitution order de novo. United States v. Wooten, 377 F.3d 1134, 1143 (10th Cir.2004). Blakely and Booker only apply to judicial fact-finding that increases a criminal punishment in violation of the Sixth Amendment. Booker, 125 S.Ct. at 755-56; Blakely, 124 S.Ct. at 2536. In the Tenth Circuit, restitution is not criminal punishment. See United States v. Nichols, 169 F.3d 1255, 1278 (10th Cir.1999); see also United States v. Hampshire, 95 F.3d 999, 1006 (10th Cir.1996); United States v. Arutunoff, 1 F.3d 1112, 1121 (10th Cir.1993). Despite Mr. Visinaiz's argument to the contrary, to the extent that a panel of this court may have assumed that restitution qualified as punishment, that panel did so only in order to make the further determination that the MVRA does not prescribe a statutory maximum, and that therefore Blakely and Booker do not apply to restitution on that ground either. See Wooten, 377 F.3d at 1144-45. As such, Mr. Visinaiz's argument that the restitution award was in error is without merit. 61 We are aware that this court granted Mr. Visinaiz his requested page limit extension. Further, we certainly recognize that this is an important appeal. But this case provides an excellent example of counsel's need to objectively consider points to be raised on appeal and to eliminate those points that have little or no merit. Simply stated, this is a vital part of an advocate's responsibility to his client as well as to the court, see Fed. R.App. P. 38, and failure to adhere to this responsibility can easily serve to distract attention from and undermine meritorious arguments. See Jones v. Barnes, 463 U.S. 745, 751-53, 103 S.Ct. 3308, 77 L.Ed.2d 987 (1983) (A brief that raises every colorable issue runs the risk of burying good arguments ... in a verbal mound made up of strong and weak contentions.) (internal citations and quotations omitted). 62 Mr. Visinaiz's motion to supplement the record is granted. 63 AFFIRMED.