Opinion ID: 663465
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the temporal relationship between the two convictions

Text: 9 Taylor alleges that his state sentence cannot be considered in the calculation of his federal criminal history score because the conduct that is the basis of the federal conviction preceded the conduct upon which the state charges are founded. However, Taylor's position is definitively rejected by reference to the plain language of the Guidelines. Section 4A1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines instructs the trial court to add between one and three points to a defendant's criminal history score for a variety of prior sentences of enumerated lengths. The section defines a prior sentence as a sentence imposed prior to sentencing on the instant offense, other than a sentence for conduct that is part of the instant offense. U.S.S.G. Sec. 4A1.2, comment. (n. 1). Thus, the plain language of the Guidelines clearly permitted the lower court's two point increase in Taylor's criminal history score based upon his state sentence, which was imposed prior to the federal sentence and which included a term of six months incarceration. 10 The plain meaning of this clear statutory language is further clarified by United States v. Beddow, 957 F.2d 1330 (6th Cir.1992). In Beddow, we considered the issue of whether a sentence resulting from behavior that occurs after conduct that supports a federal conviction can be considered a prior sentence for purposes of sentence enhancement under the Guidelines. We held that the sequence of the sentences, and not of the behavior on which they were based, defined their use for purposes of Sec. 4A1.1. 957 F.2d at 1337. The clear import of Application Note 1 is that 'the chronology of sentencing rather than the commission of the crimes [is] controlling.'  Id. (quoting United States v. Walling, 936 F.2d 469, 471 (10th Cir.1991)). We recently reaffirmed this conclusion in United States v. Escobar, 992 F.2d 87, 89 n. 2 (6th Cir.1993) (In ... this Circuit ... it is the chronology of sentencing, rather than the chronology of the commission of the crimes, which is controlling.). 11 Taylor was sentenced by the state court in December 1992. Taylor's federal sentence was imposed on May 13, 1993. Accordingly, the lower court did not err in considering Taylor's state sentence when calculating his criminal history score under the Guidelines.