Opinion ID: 766770
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Object to Double Counting Prior Conviction at Sentencing

Text: 17 The district court gave Robinson three criminal history points for his prior conviction for distributing cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. sec. 841. Robinson contends that the criminal conduct underlying his prior conviction for distributing cocaine also served as part of the basis for the CCE charge. Robinson argues that including the prior conviction in calculating his criminal history score violated U.S.S.G. sec. 4A1.2(a)(1), which provides that a defendant's criminal history should include only those convictions for conduct not encompassed by the instant offense. The district court did not grant a certificate of appealability on this issue; thus, we construe Robinson's sec. 4A1.2(a)(1) argument as an implicit request for a certificate of appealability. Buggs v. United States, 153 F.3d 439, 443 (7th Cir. 1998). 18 Robinson asserts that if the prior cocaine conviction had not been included in his criminal history, he would have been in criminal history category II instead of category III. The district court ruled that the difference in the sentence Robinson would have received in category II was not significant enough to establish ineffective assistance of coun sel. With his offense category of 38, Robinson's sentencing guideline range under category II would have been 262-327 months, and under category III the range was 292-365. Robinson received 292 months. The maximum difference of 32 months fails to meet the constitutional standard of prejudice. Allen v. United States, 175 F.3d 560, 563 (7th Cir. 1999) (42-month difference not constitutionally significant, petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Sept. 27, 1999) (No. 99-6346)); Martin v. United States, 109 F.3d 1177, 1178 (7th Cir. 1996) (single criminal- history level increase not constitutionally significant). Consequently, this sentencing issue does not warrant a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. sec. 2253(c)(2).