Opinion ID: 779583
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Sixth Assignment of Error

Text: 51 Lawrence next contends that his sentencing enhancement for obstruction of justice based on his perjury was improper. 52 Section 3C1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines authorizes a two level enhancement if a defendant willfully obstructed or impeded, or attempted to obstruct or impede, the administration of justice during the course of the investigation, prosecution, or sentencing of the instant offense . . . U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 (A). The defendant's obstructive conduct must relate to the charged offense or to a closely related offense. See U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 (B). The Notes to § 3C1.1 provide a non-exhaustive list of the types of conduct that encompass a sentence enhancement for obstruction of justice, including committing, suborning, or attempting to suborn perjury. U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 n.4. 53 To determine what constitutes perjury under the guidelines, courts have relied on the definition the Supreme Court applied in United States v. Dunnigan, 507 U.S. 87, 113 S.Ct. 1111, 122 L.Ed.2d 445 (1992). In Dunnigan the Court dealt directly with the issue of perjury and § 3C1.1. Perjury occurs when a witness, testifying under oath or affirmation, gives false testimony concerning a material matter with the willful intent to provide false testimony, rather than as a result of confusion, mistake, or faulty memory. Id. at 94, 113 S.Ct. 1111. 54 In Dunnigan the Court explained that, though a defendant's right to testify at trial does not include a right to commit perjury, a defendant who is found guilty must not be penalized by an enhancement under § 3C1.1 simply for having testified on his or her own behalf. See id. at 95, 113 S.Ct. 1111. To protect a defendant from this danger, and to avoid discouraging defendants from testifying truthfully at trial, the Court instituted constitutional requirements for the application of § 3C1.1. If a defendant objects to a sentence enhancement resulting from his or her trial testimony, the district court must review the evidence and make independent findings necessary to establish a willful impediment to or the obstruction of justice resulting from defendant's perjury. Id. When doing so, the court should address each element of the putative perjury in a separate and clear finding. Id. Alternatively, a court may conclude that enhancement is appropriate on the basis of a finding of obstruction of justice that encompasses all the factual predicates of perjury. Id. 55 This circuit has been consistent in its treatment of § 3C1.1 sentence enhancements. Prior to Dunnigan, we held that, at a minimum, if an obstruction of justice enhancement is to be given for false testimony, the sentencing judge, who has the unique opportunity to judge the credibility of the witness, is required to make a clear finding that the defendant has lied with respect to testimony given under oath. United States v. Burnette, 981 F.2d 874, 879 (6th Cir.1992). Similarly, in United States v. Clark, 982 F.2d 965, 970 (6th Cir.1993), we stated that, when assigning points for obstruction of justice, the district court should identify specifically which statements or actions by a defendant constitute an obstruction of justice. 56 Interpreting Dunnigan, however, we have clarified our earlier decisions, and set forth our own requirements for sentence enhancement in compliance with the Supreme Court's in Dunnigan. In addition to protecting defendants who testify at trial, these requirements provide a meaningful record to determine which statements the district court considered to be perjurious and whether the court found those statements to satisfy each element of perjury. United States v. Sassanelli, 118 F.3d 495, 501 (6th Cir.1997). For a district court to enhance a defendant's sentence under § 3C1.1, the court must: 1) identify those particular portions of defendant's testimony that it considers to be perjurious; and 2) either make a specific finding for each element of perjury or, at least, make a finding that encompasses all of the factual predicates for a finding of perjury. United States v. Mise, 240 F.3d 527, 531 (6th Cir.2001) (citing Sassanelli, 118 F.3d at 501). 57 As indicated in Sassanelli, the second requirement was held by the Supreme Court to be necessary under § 3C1.1. Sassanelli, 118 F.3d at 501 (citing United States v. Spears, 49 F.3d 1136, 1143 (6th Cir.1995)). The first of these requirements, however, is a rule of our own creation to assist us in our review of sentence enhancements under § 3C1.1, though we have never insisted on a rigid adherence to its terms. Id. Thus, a district court's findings will be adequate if: 1) the record is sufficiently clear to indicate which statements the district court considered perjurious; and 2) the district court found that the statements satisfied each element of perjury. Id. 58 Since Dunnigan, this Circuit has uniformly applied these requirements in cases involving sentence enhancements for perjury under § 3C1.1. In United States v. Comer, 93 F.3d 1271, 1282 (6th Cir.1996), we upheld a sentence enhancement where the district court specified several false statements made by defendant and articulated why it considered them to be perjurious. 2 In a similar decision upholding a sentence enhancement, this circuit found the district court's findings sufficient when the court pointed specifically to conflicts between defendant's tape-recorded comments prior to trial and his trial testimony. Mise, 240 F.3d at 531. 59 In United States v. McRae, 156 F.3d 708, 713 (6th Cir.1998), however, we vacated defendant's sentence enhancement where the district court failed to specify any areas of conflicting testimony or to make independent findings with respect to the elements of perjury in defendant's trial testimony. 3 We noted that an enhancement may not be affirmed on an inference that the ruling was based upon the government's arguments. Id. 60 It will not be enough, therefore, for a court to recognize conflicting testimony and to resolve, in its own mind, which witness is credible; nor will it be sufficient for a sentencing judge to broadly consider everything defendant said at trial to be perjurious. Spears, 49 F.3d at 1143. The district court must be specific. As we explained in Sassanelli, a case in which the district court stated broadly that it considered almost everything defendant said at trial to be perjurious, the district court did not identify any examples of such perjury, and it did not attempt to apply the elements of perjury to such examples, as required by Dunnigan and Spears.  Sassanelli, 118 F.3d at 502. At a minimum, we require the district court to indicate which portions of defendant's testimony were perjurious, and to apply the elements of perjury to those portions of the testimony. 61 In the instant case, Lawrence argues that the district court failed to make proper findings of fact to support a determination that he committed perjury in his trial testimony which led to a two-level sentence enhancement for obstruction of justice under § 3C1.1. At the sentencing hearing, the court overruled Lawrence's objection to the enhancement and replied, generally, that it did not believe his testimony at trial, nor did the jury. The Court stated: Well, I presided at the trial. I heard all of the testimony. There is no way that Danny Young was on his own, and I believe you were the person that was directing that. . . . In regard to obstruction of justice, I heard your testimony, and there was very little that I believed. I don't think there was very much the jury believed taking their verdict in the case. (J.A. at 557-58). 62 This is the same type of review of testimony that the district court had conducted in Sassanelli. Here, the district court made no indication which portions of defendant's testimony were perjurious nor did the court apply any of the elements of perjury to the testimony. Therefore, the court's finding is insufficient under our requirements for sentence enhancement under § 3C1.1. Accordingly, defendant's sentence is vacated with respect to the two-level enhancement under § 3C1.1, and remanded for re-sentencing consistent with this opinion.