Opinion ID: 779439
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The (Ir-)Relevance of Eleventh Circuit Law

Text: 70 Finally, the BOP contends that because Eleventh Circuit jurisprudence, which was the controlling legal authority for the sentencing court, does not permit adjustments for time served on a state conviction under § 5G1.3(c), we ought to assume that the sentencing court was following this precedent and did not intend to award Ruggiano an adjustment that is impermissible under Eleventh Circuit law. We decline to view the sentencing court's statements solely in the context of Eleventh Circuit law, for while such an exercise is arguably relevant to discerning the court's true intent in issuing its sentence, we think that, for the reasons stated above, the sentencing court clearly indicated its intention to adjust Ruggiano's sentence for the time served on his state conviction, and it is therefore unnecessary to explore Eleventh Circuit law on the matter. Moreover, if the government is correct in its assertion that the court's sentence contravened Eleventh Circuit law, it should have appealed the sentence directly to the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. 7 71 Even were we to import Eleventh Circuit law, however, it is, as far as we can tell, inconclusive on the issue of whether a sentencing court may adjust for time served on a pre-existing state sentence under § 5G1.3(c). Unlike the Second Circuit in Fermin, which we discuss supra, the Eleventh Circuit has not definitively declared that adjustments for pre-existing sentences are not permitted under § 5G1.3(c). 72 The only supporting cases the BOP cites are United States v. Johnson, 87 F.3d 1257 (11th Cir.1996), and United States v. Ballard, 6 F.3d 1502, 1506 (11th Cir.1993), neither of which, the BOP concedes, necessarily shows that adjustments for pre-existing sentences under § 5G1.3(c) are prohibited, but rather only that they are not prefer[red]. Br. of BOP at 31-32; see also Br. of BOP at 37 (noting that Johnson only suggests that such adjustments are not authorized). In Johnson, the defendant argued that the sentencing court should have granted him credit for time served on his state sentence. In just one paragraph that lacked any thorough analysis, the Eleventh Circuit rejected the defendant's argument by noting that the sentencing court did not shirk its responsibilities under § 5G1.3(c) by refusing to grant credit. The Johnson Court never stated, however, that the sentencing court would have been prohibited from adjusting for time served on a pre-existing state sentence under § 5G1.3(c). It simply was satisfied that in the case before it, no such adjustment was required. While the Eleventh Circuit to our knowledge has never explicitly authorized such adjustments, we hardly read Johnson as prohibiting them altogether. At best for the BOP, Eleventh Circuit law is inconclusive on this point, which only increases our hesitation to import it for purposes of construing what the sentencing court intended here. 8