Opinion ID: 705069
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Sec. 2J1.7 Apportionment.

Text: 14 The district court sentenced Stevens to a prison term of 292 months, plus an additional consecutive month, for a total of 293 months. Stevens does not appeal the 293 month total, which falls within the range agreed upon in the Stipulation, but argues that Judge Duffy apportioned it improperly. Section 3147 requires that a person who commits an offense while on release receive an additional prison term, consecutive to the sentence for the offense of conviction. It provides: 15 A person convicted of an offense committed while released under this chapter shall be sentenced, in addition to the sentence prescribed for the offense to-- 16 (1) a term of imprisonment of not more than ten years if the offense is a felony; or 17 (2) a term of imprisonment of not more than one year if the offense is a misdemeanor. 18 A term of imprisonment imposed under this section shall be consecutive to any other sentence of imprisonment. 19 Id. 20 The Guidelines account for this requirement by imposing a three-level enhancement. USSG Sec. 2J1.7 provides: 21 If an enhancement under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3147 applies, add 3 levels to the offense level for the offense committed while on release as if this section were a specific offense characteristic contained in the offense guideline for the offense committed while on release. 22 Using Stevens's facts as a hypothetical example, his aggregate offense level of 34, absent the Sec. 2J1.7 enhancement, with a CHC of II, would call for a 168-210 month prison term. If the offense had been committed while on release, section 3147 would require an additional term of up to ten years. This is accomplished under Sec. 2J1.7 by a three-level enhancement, which brings the total offense level to 37, and the relevant imprisonment range to 235-293 months. 23 Because Sec. 3147 requires that the enhancement be consecutive, commentary to Sec. 2J1.7 provides: 24 Under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3147, a sentence of imprisonment must be imposed in addition to the sentence for the underlying offense, and the sentence of imprisonment imposed under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3147 must run consecutively to any other sentence of imprisonment. Therefore, the court, in order to comply with the statute, should divide the sentence on the judgment form between the sentence attributable to the underlying offense and the sentence attributable to the enhancement. The court will have to ensure that the total punishment (i.e., the sentence for the offense committed while on release plus the sentence enhancement under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3147) is in accord with the guideline range for the offense committed while on release, as adjusted by the enhancement in this section. For example, if the applicable adjusted guideline range is 30-37 months and the court determines total punishment of 36 months is appropriate, a sentence of 30 months for the underlying offense plus 6 months under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3147 would satisfy this requirement. 25 USSG Sec. 2J1.7, comment. (n. 2). 26 Before addressing Stevens' specific contention of error, we note that there was lengthy colloquy at resentencing between the district court and counsel concerning both the interplay between Sec. 2J1.7 and Sec. 3147, and our explanation of that interplay in Stevens I, 985 F.2d at 1189-90. Although the district court ultimately apportioned the 293-month sentence, the court questioned whether Sec. 2J1.7 in some respect improperly amended Sec. 3147 by eliminating the statutory enhancement. In our view, however, our decision in Stevens I, which noted that the three-level enhancement had been included in Stevens' total offense level, 985 F.2d at 1189, and instructed the district court to state [on remand] what portion of the new sentence is attributable to the release-status enhancement and is thus to run consecutively to any other sentence of imprisonment, id. at 1190, appropriately addressed this issue. 27 As explained earlier, Sec. 2J1.7 and its commentary constitute an effort to integrate Sec. 3147 into the guidelines by increasing the range of a sentence for a person who committed an offense while on release, and then by requiring that the added sentence be attributed to that fact and imposed consecutively. As stated in the pertinent guidelines commentary: This guideline is drafted to enable the court to determine and implement a combined 'total punishment' consistent with the overall structure of the guidelines, while at the same time complying with the statutory requirement. USSG Sec. 2J1.7, comment. (backg'd.). We believe that Sec. 2J1.7 is both rational and successful in meeting this objective. 28 As to the specific claim of error, Stevens contends that the district court erred in apportioning his sentence so that 292 months is attributable to the offense of conviction, and one month is attributable to the Sec. 2J1.7 enhancement. 1 He notes that absent the three-level enhancement, he could have been sentenced to a maximum of 210 months. Therefore, he argues, the court could not apportion more than 210 months to the offense of conviction. He notes that this is more than an academic issue because, should the guidelines be amended to permit a modification of either part of his sentence, see 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3582(c)(2), it would be important for each portion of his sentence to reflect properly the permissible guidelines range. 29 The government notes, however, that the example provided in the pertinent guideline commentary achieves a result that parallels the feature of Stevens' sentence which he challenges as an illegal apportionment. The commentary example begins with a total range of 30-37 months. In all criminal history categories, if the Sec. 2J1.7 three-level enhancement is deleted from the guideline level at which a 30-37 month sentence is imposed, the permissible range provided for the reduced sentence level would be 21-27 months. In its example, however, the commentary attributed 30 months of a 36 month sentence to the offense of conviction, three months greater than the imprisonment authorized absent the enhancement. See USSG Sec. 2J1.7, comment. (n. 2). 30 Guideline commentary, like a government agency's interpretation of its own rules, is to be given controlling weight unless it violates the Constitution or a federal statute, is plainly erroneous, or is inconsistent with the guideline provision that it explains. See Stinson v. United States, --- U.S. ----, ----, 113 S.Ct. 1913, 1919, 123 L.Ed.2d 598 (1993). We agree with Stevens that the example provided by the commentary to Sec. 2J1.7 is inconsistent with that guideline. 31 As previously discussed, the purpose of Sec. 2J1.7 is to effectuate Sec. 3147 by providing for additional punishment to that required by the guidelines for the offense of conviction. See United States v. Wilson, 966 F.2d 243, 248-49 (7th Cir.1992) (holding that prison term attributable to offense of conviction must fall within permissible range absent Sec. 2J1.7 enhancement); see also Stevens I, 985 F.2d at 1189 (citing Wilson, 966 F.2d at 248-49). By apportioning a sentence as the commentary example contemplates or as the district court did in this case, the effect is to increase the sentence attributable to the underlying offense beyond that authorized by the guidelines while, at the same time, adding a shorter consecutive sentence than would be warranted by the three-level increase specified in Sec. 2J1.7. 32 While the total sentence is not affected, practical sentencing consequences of an improper allocation are nonetheless clearly possible. Stevens has suggested one possible consequence with respect to the impact under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3582(c)(2) of a subsequent guideline amendment. And in Wilson, the properly computed Sec. 2J1.7 sentence was required to be consecutive not only to the sentence for the underlying offense, but also to a separate sentence in view of the specification in Sec. 3147 that the sentence imposed under that statute be consecutive to any other sentence of imprisonment. See Wilson, 966 F.2d at 249. 33 Accordingly, the district court should have apportioned the prison term so that the part attributable to the offense of conviction fell within the 34 level range that would be available absent the three-level enhancement, i.e., 168-210 months, with a consecutive addition (not exceeding ten years) within the range provided by adding three levels above level 34. 34 Although we conclude that the apportionment selected by Judge Duffy violated the prescriptions of guideline 2J1.7, it does not necessarily follow that Stevens is entitled to have that aspect of his sentence corrected. This depends on whether Stevens waived appeal, which is discussed below. 35