Opinion ID: 659857
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Imposition of a Consecutive Sentence on Tracy

Text: 102 Prior to his conviction of conspiracy in the present case, Tracy was convicted, because of the threats he noted on the Complaint, of threatening a federal officer and his family, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 115(a)(1). He was sentenced under the Sentencing Reform Act to a total of ten years' imprisonment for those offenses. That sentence, imposed in May 1991, had not been discharged before imposition of his sentence for the present offense. 103 Sentencing Guideline Sec. 5G1.3, which governs the imposition of a sentence upon a defendant who has an undischarged term of imprisonment, provides as follows:(a) If the instant offense was committed while the defendant was serving a term of imprisonment ... or after sentencing for, but before commencing service of, such term of imprisonment, the sentence for the instant offense shall be imposed to run consecutively to the undischarged term of imprisonment. 104 (b) If subsection (a) does not apply, and the undischarged term of imprisonment resulted from offense(s) that constituted part of the same course of conduct as the instant offense and have been fully taken into account in the determination of the offense level of the instant offense, or if the prior undischarged term of imprisonment resulted from a federal offense and was imposed pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act, the sentence for the instant offense shall be imposed to result in a combined sentence equal to the total punishment that would have been imposed under Sec. 5G1.2 (Sentencing on Multiple Counts of Conviction) had all the sentences been imposed at the same time. 105 (c) In any other case, the sentence for the instant offense shall be imposed to run consecutively to the prior unexpired term of imprisonment to the extent necessary to achieve a reasonable incremental punishment for the instant offense. 106 Guidelines Sec. 5G1.3 (emphasis added). Section 5G1.2 requires calculation of a sentence in accordance with the grouping-of-offenses analysis set forth in Chapter Three, Part D, of the Guidelines (Multiple Counts). 107 In imposing sentence on Tracy, the district court ruled that the present sentence should be imposed consecutively under Sec. 5G1.3(c): 108 ... Turning to 5g1.3c, and I want to make this very clear as to how the court is ruling on this--5g1.3 is the imposition of a sentence on a defendant subject to an undischarged term of i[m]prisonment. Subsections A and B, in the judgment of the court do not apply to this situation for reasons that are rather evident when you read the text of those subsections. 109 The subsection that does apply, therefore, is subsection C.... 110 (Tracy S. Tr. 100.) 111 The inapplicability of the latter part of subsection (b) is not evident to us. It is plain that subsection (a) did not apply, because Tracy did not engage in the conspiracy either while he was serving a term of imprisonment for his threats or after he had been sentenced for making those threats. Since (a) did not apply, subsection (b), by its terms, required that the sentence be imposed in accordance with Sec. 5G1.2 if the prior undischarged term of imprisonment resulted from a federal offense and was imposed pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act. Since Tracy's undischarged sentence was for a federal offense for which he was sentenced under that Act, subsection (b), not subsection (c), applied. Thus, the court should have calculated the sentence prescribed by the Guidelines as if Tracy were being sentenced on all three of his federal offenses at one time, calculating his total pursuant to Sec. 5G1.2. 112 Accordingly, we vacate Tracy's sentence and remand for resentencing.