Opinion ID: 2975986
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Watkins’s Eighth Amendment claim

Text: When Watkins was sentenced, his offense level for the six robberies was 36 and his criminal history category was I. At that level, the Guidelines range for sentencing is 188 to 235 months of imprisonment. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual tbl. (2005). The district court sentenced Watkins at the low end of that range and then ran his sentences for the three Hobbs Act robberies and the three armed bank robberies concurrently, for a total of 188 months. Watkins was also sentenced to 188 months on the one count of conspiracy to commit a Hobbs Act robbery and to 60 months on the one count of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery. The court ordered that both of Watkins’s conspiracy sentences run concurrently with his sentences for the six robberies. Finally, the district court sentenced Watkins to an additional 7 years for brandishing a firearm during the first robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), and to 25 years for each count of using No. 05-4551 United States v. Watkins Page 5 or brandishing a firearm during the other five robberies. The length of the firearm sentences are predetermined by by § 924(c)(1)(C)(i). Pursuant to § 924(c)(1)(D)(ii), the court then ordered that each of the § 924(c) gun convictions run consecutively to the underlying offenses. Watkins argues that his sentence of 1,772 months is grossly disproportionate punishment when compared to the crimes for which he was convicted. He notes that he did not fire a gun, that no person was physically injured during the robberies, and that his criminal history prior to the robberies was zero. He asserts that his lack of criminal history and the absence of any physical harm to the victims weighs heavily against the imposition of a sentence that will confine him for the remainder of his life. We are not persuaded, however, by Watkins’s arguments. All of his robbery and conspiracy offenses are running concurrently; only his firearms convictions are running consecutively. And as 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) makes clear, firearms convictions may not run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment, including the term of imprisonment imposed for the underlying offense. § 924(c)(1)(D)(ii). This circuit has never held that the consecutive-sentence requirement in § 924(c) is unconstitutional. Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that life sentences for even nonviolent offenses are constitutional. See, e.g., Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 1, 30-31 (2003) (upholding a life sentence under California’s three strikes law for the theft of three golf clubs); Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957, 994-95 (1991) (upholding a life sentence for possession of 672 grams of cocaine). As Watkins acknowledges, this circuit rejected the very same Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual argument in United States v. Beverly, 369 F.3d 516, 537 (6th Cir. 2004). The defendant in Beverly was sentenced to 71.5 years in prison, largely as the result of the same consecutive sentencing requirement contained in 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). See id. This circuit has also imposed lengthy sentences in cases involving similar crimes. In United States v. Marks, 209 F.3d 577, 583 (6th Cir. 2000), for example, this court upheld sentences of 1,395 and 2,242 months of imprisonment for two defendants who committed six and nine armed bank robberies, respectively. Although Watkins is correct in arguing that the Eighth Amendment places an outer limit on criminal penalties that are grossly disproportionate to the offense, this is not such a case. See Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 290 n.16 (1983) (stating that, under the Eighth Amendment, appellate courts may review a sentence to determine if it is within constitutional limits). Watkins was convicted of six separate robberies, each of which involved the brandishing of a firearm. He and/or his accomplices entered the homes of victims by force and threatened to seriously harm or kill not only the victims, but, in multiple cases, their spouses and small children. In light of the numerosity and seriousness of the offenses, the comparable sentences imposed by this circuit in similar circumstances, and the requirement that sentences for § 924(c) firearms convictions run consecutively to all other sentences, Watkins’s sentence is not grossly disproportionate to the offenses.