Opinion ID: 72029
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Applicability of the Cross-referencing Provision.

Text: 23 As an initial matter, Tham contends that the district court erroneously invoked the cross-referencing provision in the instant case. See Appellant's Brief at 33 (arguing that the district court should have employed the offense level for arson instead of the offense level for homicide). Although the cross-referencing provision of the sentencing guideline for arson directs district courts to apply the most analogous guideline concerning offenses against the person [i]f death resulted, U.S.S.G. § 2K1.4(c), Tham intimates that we should interpret this subsection to require that the referenced death befall someone other than a participant in the offense. If we were to accept the construction urged by Tham, his brother's participation in the underlying arson would render the cross-referencing provision inapplicable. 24 In accordance with well-established rules, the language of the Sentencing Guidelines is to be given its plain and ordinary meaning. United States v. Pompey, 17 F.3d 351, 354 (11th Cir.1994); United States v. Strachan, 968 F.2d 1161, 1163 (11th Cir.1992) (referencing the wealth of precedent in this circuit that seeks to remain faithful to the plain language of the sentencing guidelines); United States v. Wilson, 993 F.2d 214, 217 (11th Cir.1993) (indicating that sentencing guideline commentary must be given its plain and ordinary meaning). In the instant case, this canon of construction militates against acceding to Tham's request that we imply an exception to the cross-referencing provision for the death of a coparticipant. The sentencing guideline unambiguously commands district courts to employ the cross-referencing provision whenever death results, not merely when death results to a certain subset of potential victims. 25 Moreover, the text of a subsection preceding the cross-referencing provision confirms that the drafters of the Sentencing Guidelines intended for the provision to apply to any death that resulted from perpetration of the arson. Specifically, subsection 2K1.4(a)(1) provides for an elevated base offense level if the arson created a substantial risk of death or other serious bodily injury to any person other than a participant in the offense. U.S.S.G. § 2K1.4(a)(1)-(2) (emphasis added). By contrast, the arson cross-referencing provision directs district courts to apply the most analogous guideline concerning offenses against the person if death resulted from perpetration of the arson, without regard to the identity of the individual killed. As the drafters of the Sentencing Guidelines included the other than a participant language in one subsection of U.S.S.G. § 2K1.4, but omitted that same language from the cross-referencing provision, we presume the disparate inclusion or exclusion represents an intentional and purposeful act. See Russello v. United States, 464 U.S. 16, 23, 104 S.Ct. 296, 300, 78 L.Ed.2d 17 (1983) (applying this rule relative to statutory construction); United States v. Wong Kim Bo, 472 F.2d 720, 722 (5th Cir.1972) (per curiam) (same). If the drafters of U.S.S.G. § 2K1.4 had intended to restrict the scope of the cross-referencing provision to arsons resulting in the deaths of nonparticipants, they undoubtedly would have done so expressly by incorporating the same language employed in the immediately preceding subsection. Consistent with the plain and ordinary meaning of the language employed, we therefore hold that § 2K1.4 requires cross-referencing even when death befalls a participant in the arson. 26 In reaching the foregoing conclusion, we are mindful that courts need not effectuate the plain meaning of a guideline in those extraordinary instances when the language produces an absurd result contrary to the drafters' manifest intent. United States v. Shenberg, 89 F.3d 1461, 1475 (11th Cir.1996), petition for cert. filed, 65 U.S.L.W. 3468 (Dec. 23, 1996) (No. 96-1009); see also United States v. McLymont, 45 F.3d 400, 401 (11th Cir.) (per curiam) (applying same principle in the statutory context), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1077, 115 S.Ct. 1723, 131 L.Ed.2d 581 (1995); United States ex rel. Williams v. NEC Corp., 931 F.2d 1493, 1498 (11th Cir.1991) (same). The principle simply has no application in the present circumstances. No anomaly inheres in the drafters' refusal to enhance a sentence based upon the risk of death to arson participants when the danger does not materialize, see U.S.S.G. § 2K1.4(a), and their willingness to enhance the sentence when the danger does materialize, see U.S.S.G. § 2K1.4(c). 3 Distinctions based on the consequences of a criminal act, as opposed to the intentions of the actor, represent an enduring and pervasive characteristic of the moral thought that informs our system of criminal law. See United States v. Martinez, 16 F.3d 202, 206 (7th Cir.) (Posner, C.J.) (noting that a speeding motorist who hits no one is guilty of no more than a highway code violation, but the same motorist who hits a child is guilty of involuntary manslaughter), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 886, 115 S.Ct. 226, 130 L.Ed.2d 152 (1994); Kevin Cole, Killings During Crime: Toward a Discriminating Theory of Strict Liability, 28 Am.Crim. L.Rev. 73, 74 (1990) ([S]pecific statutes typically penalize mere risk creation at a lower level than that same risk creation when death results.). We therefore reject any contention that effectuating the plain meaning of the cross-referencing provision would produce an absurd result. 27