Opinion ID: 2815635
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Lawfulness of Sentences Imposed

Text: The trial judge sentenced appellant to concurrent terms of imprisonment of eight years for carrying a pistol without a license in a gun-free zone and twelve years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The judge ordered that the prison terms be followed by concurrent three-year periods of supervised release. The judge did not specify any mandatory minimum prison time. Appellant contends that the twelve-year prison sentence for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon exceeded the maximum penalty authorized by law at the time of the offense. The government conceded this point at oral argument, and we agree that the sentence imposed for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was illegal. 49 At the time of the events in this case, District of Columbia law provided that a felon convicted of possession of a firearm faced a maximum possible sentence of ten years in prison and a one-year mandatory-minimum prison term. D.C. Code § 22-4503 (a)(2) (2008 Supp.). The District of Columbia Council soon amended the District’s gun control laws, retaining the ten-year maximum and one-year mandatory-minimum periods of incarceration for ordinary felon-in-possession charges and creating an enhanced penalty of up to fifteen years in prison, with a three-year mandatory-minimum term, for possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a felony defined in the bail statute as a crime of violence. See D.C. Code §§ 22-4503 (b)(1) & (d)(1) (2010 Supp.); see also D.C. Code § 231331 (4) (2010 Supp.) (defining “crime of violence”); see generally Council of the District of Columbia, Comm. on Pub. Safety and the Judiciary, Report on Bill 8- 151, “Omnibus Public Safety and Justice Amendment Act of 2009” (June 26, 2009). However, although it is undisputed that appellant had a prior conviction for a crime of violence (second-degree murder while armed), the amendments to the District’s gun control laws did not take effect until December 10, 2009, see Omnibus Public Safety and Justice Amendment Act of 2009, D.C. Law 18-88, 56 D.C. Reg. 7413 (December 10, 2009), and the Ex Post Facto Clause prohibits their retroactive application to appellant even though they were fully in effect by the 50 time of his trial, see Carmell v. Texas, 529 U.S. 513, 522 (2000) (citing Calder v. Bull, 3 U.S. 386, 390 (1798)). The twelve-year prison sentence imposed for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was therefore illegal in two respects: it exceeded the ten-year statutory maximum in effect at the time of the offense, and it failed to specify a one-year mandatory-minimum period of incarceration. The sentence must be vacated and the case remanded for resentencing on this charge in accordance with applicable statutory requirements.3 Finally, in a Rule 28 (k) statement filed after oral argument, appellant contends, for the first time, that his eight-year prison sentence for carrying a pistol without a license in a gun-free zone also exceeded the maximum penalty allowed by law at the time of the offense. We disagree. First, the law in effect as of July 3- 4, 2009 plainly provided that a felon convicted of carrying a pistol without a 3 Because District of Columbia law requires the sentencing judge in a felony case to withhold part of the maximum possible prison term as “back-up time” in the event of the subsequent revocation of the defendant’s supervised release, the longest prison term that can be imposed at the time of resentencing on the charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is eight years, equal to the ten-year statutory maximum penalty in effect at the time of the offense minus the two-year period that must be reserved as back-up time. See D.C. Code §§ 24-403.01 (b)(7)(C) & (b-1) (2009 Supp.). 51 license faced a maximum possible sentence of ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine. See D.C. Code § 22-4504 (a)(2) (2009 Supp.). Indeed, District of Columbia law has authorized a ten-year prison sentence for carrying a pistol without a license by a convicted felon for at least the past thirty-five years. See Henson v. United States, 399 A.2d 16, 21 (D.C. 1979) (highlighting a felon’s “[e]xposure to a possible ten-year sentence under § 22-3204,” the predecessor to § 22-4504 (a)(2)). Second, the gun-free zone enhancement doubled the maximum possible sentence appellant faced for carrying a pistol without a license. See D.C. Code § 224502.01 (b) (2009 Supp.) (“Any person illegally carrying a gun within a gun free zone shall be punished by a fine up to twice that otherwise authorized to be imposed, by a term of imprisonment up to twice that otherwise authorized to be imposed, or both.”). Appellant thus faced a maximum possible penalty of twenty years in prison and a $20,000 fine for carrying a pistol without a license in a gunfree zone. The eight-year term imposed, therefore, was not unlawful.