Opinion ID: 713019
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Abuse of a Position of Trust or Use of Special Skill

Text: 60 The district court imposed a two-point upward adjustment pursuant to § 3B1.3 for abuse of a position of trust or use of a special skill. Section 3B1.3 provides: If the defendant abused a position of public or private trust, or used a special skill, in a manner that significantly facilitated the commission or concealment of the offense, increase by 2 levels. § 3B1.3. The district court found that defendant had abused a position of trust in connection with the mail fraud, and that he had used a special skill in the commission of both the mail fraud and the credit card fraud. As either abuse of a position of trust or use of a special skill standing alone is a sufficient basis for an upward adjustment, we must uphold the district court's determination if any one of these three grounds was proper.
61 We begin by addressing the district court's finding that defendant used a special skill in the commission of both offenses. The Commentary to § 3B1.3 describes the enhancement for use of a special skill in the commission of an offense as follows: 62 Special skill refers to a skill not possessed by members of the general public and usually requiring substantial education, training or licensing. Examples would include pilots, lawyers, doctors, accountants, chemists, and demolition experts. 63 Application Note 2. Like the enhancement for abuse of a position of trust, this adjustment applies to persons who abuse ... their special skills to facilitate significantly the commission or concealment of a crime. Background to § 3B1.3. 64
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66 To impose an upward adjustment for use of a special skill pursuant to § 3B1.3, a court must find two things: (1) that defendant possesses a special skill; and (2) that he used it to significantly facilitate the commission or concealment of his offense. United States v. Hickman, 991 F.2d 1110, 1112 (3d Cir.1993). In this case, the district court neither made specific findings of fact nor articulated reasons in support of its conclusion that defendant used a special skill in perpetrating the mail fraud scheme. As a result, we must determine whether the record as a whole demonstrates the manner in which defendant used his special skill to facilitate the commission or concealment of the offense. United States v. Rice, 52 F.3d 843, 850 (10th Cir.1995); United States v. Gandy, 36 F.3d 912, 916 (10th Cir.1994). If the record as a whole supports the district court's enhancement of defendant's sentence for use of a special skill in the commission of the mail fraud offense, then we need not remand for specific factual findings in support of the enhancement. Id. 67 We begin with the first prong of the § 3B1.3 inquiry: whether defendant possesses a special skill within the meaning of the guideline. The court appears to have found that defendant's special skill is [not] the practice of law per se, but rather is the knowledge that one obtains through a legal education and prior practice. App. 580; see also Govt's Br. at 44 ([T]he special skill adjustment rested on the whole panoply of practical skills associated with a legal career.). We note at the outset that defendant's legal training clearly constitutes a special skill, as lawyering is specifically listed as an example of a special skill in the text of the Guideline. Moreover, under the circumstances, we believe that including defendant's experiences and general knowledge acquired over the course of his legal career within the contours of his special skill is warranted. See United States v. Culver, 929 F.2d 389 (8th Cir.1991) (finding use of special skill where pilot convicted of conspiracy to transport stolen aircraft had used his skills to plan for fuel and devise flight plans, despite arrest before take-off); United States v. White, 972 F.2d 590, 600-01 (5th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1007, 113 S.Ct. 1651, 123 L.Ed.2d 272 (1993), cert. denied sub nom Wilson v. United States, id. (finding use of special skill where defense attorney specializing in drug cases used knowledge acquired as a prosecutor and defense lawyer to avoid surveillance during drug conspiracy activities). 68 The district court's decision with respect to the second part of the inquiry--whether defendant used his special skill to significantly facilitate the mail fraud--is a question of fact that we review for clear error. The factual basis of the district court's finding is not clear from the record. The government's argument, which presumably the court adopted, is that defendant used his special legal skills in ascertaining the names of inactive lawyers or obtaining their credit histories for the purpose of assuming their identities. Govt.Br. at 38. According to the government's Sentencing Memorandum, which was part of the record at the time of sentencing, the defendant's 69 education and experiences as a licensed attorney enabled him to successfully portray himself to his clients, adversaries, and the courts as a knowledgeable attorney. By using these skills, he was able to conceal the truth about his identity and his unlicensed status and enabled him [sic] to dupe more people into hiring him under the false impression that he was licensed to practice law. In short, he used his previous experience, education, and training to perpetuate the fraud and to conceal it. 70 App. 548. 71 We note that this case presents a rather unique situation insofar as the very use of the special skill (legal competence) mitigated the severity of the offense by avoiding harm to victims. Nevertheless, the fact remains that defendant was an experienced lawyer with experience in setting up a law practice and soliciting clients, that these skills are not possessed by the general public, and that he used these skills to facilitate his fraudulent scheme and to avoid detection. The district court's decision to adjust defendant's sentence upwardly for use of a special skill was not clearly erroneous. 72
73 Defendant argues that enhancing his sentence for use of a special skill pursuant to § 3B1.3 while also imposing an upward adjustment under § 2F1.1(b)(3)(B) constitutes impermissible double counting. Guideline § 2F1.1(b)(3)(B) provides for a two-level increase in offense level if the offense involved violation of any judicial or administrative order. Id. Since defendant's unlicensed practice was a direct violation of the New Jersey Supreme Court order of disbarment, the district court enhanced his sentence pursuant to § 2F1.1(b)(3)(B). Defendant apparently does not challenge this enhancement, but rather uses it as the basis for his challenge to the § 3B1.3 adjustment for use of a special skill in connection with his mail fraud scheme. The theory behind his argument is that both enhancements punish the same behavior: the practice of law. 74 In United States v. Wong, 3 F.3d 667 (3d Cir.1993), we addressed the issue of double counting under the guidelines. Defendant in that case challenged the simultaneous imposition of upward adjustments for more than minimal planning under § 2B1.1(b)(5) and for acting as an organizer or leader of a criminal enterprise under § 3B1.1(c). We reasoned that because the Guidelines are explicit when two Sentencing Guideline sections may not be applied at the same time, the principle of statutory construction, 'expressio unius est exclusio alterius,' applies. Id. at 670-71. We concluded that an adjustment that clearly applies to the conduct of an offense must be imposed unless the Guidelines exclude its applicability. Id. at 671. 75 That reasoning applies with equal force here. Nothing in the Guidelines indicates that § 3B1.3 and § 2F1.1(b)(3)(B) may not be applied in tandem. We therefore reject defendant's double counting argument. 76 We note that even in the absence of governing legal precedent, we would reject defendant's argument on purely logical grounds. Contrary to his assertions, the enhancements under § 2F1.1(b)(3)(B) and § 3B1.3 do not dr[a]w from the same well. United States v. Kopshever, 6 F.3d 1218, 1224 (7th Cir.1993). On the contrary, neither one punishes the practice of law per se. The former punishes defendant's flagrant violation of a judicial order; the latter, his use of the panoply of skills associated with legal practice to facilitate passing himself off as a licensed attorney. [E]ven if there is some overlap in the factual basis for two or more sentencing adjustments, so long as there is sufficient factual basis for each they may both be applied. United States v. Haines, 32 F.3d 290, 293-93 (7th Cir.1994). Despite the slight overlap between these two provisions as applied in this case, they target different behavior. As a result, even if the law forbade double counting in the absence of explicit instructions in the guidelines, the simultaneous application of these two enhancement provisions would not constitute double counting. 77
78 Because we have concluded that the district court properly imposed a two-point upward adjustment for use of a special skill in the commission of the mail fraud offense, we need not and do not reach the issues of whether defendant used a special skill in the commission of the credit card fraud or abused a position of trust within the meaning of the guidelines.