Opinion ID: 3003338
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Effect of Kimbrough on Davis’ and

Text: Anthony’s Sentences After the defendants in this case were sentenced, the Supreme Court held in Kimbrough v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 558, 564 (2007), that district courts may consider the crack/powder disparity embedded in the drugoffense guideline, § 2D1.1, as a basis for choosing a belowguidelines sentence. The Court explained that a district court may generally consider policy disagreements with the advisory Guidelines, provided that the court does not disregard statutes such as mandatory minimums and maximums. See id. at 570-71. Since the Guidelines’ crack/powder disparity does not result from a congressional mandate, see id. at 571-72, “it would not be an abuse of discretion for a district court to conclude” that the disparity “yields a sentence ‘greater than necessary’ to achieve § 3553(a)’s purposes . . . .” Id. at 575. Before Kimbrough, our circuit precedent prevented district courts from considering the crack/powder Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 9 disparity as a basis for choosing a below-guidelines sentence. See United States v. Miller, 450 F.3d 270, 274-75 (7th Cir. 2006). To correct the prejudicial effects of Miller, we have established remand procedures for crack offenders sentenced prior to Kimbrough. Offenders who did not raise a challenge to the crack/powder disparity at sentencing are entitled to a limited remand, allowing the district court to indicate whether it would have selected a different sentence had it known of its discretion under Kimbrough. United States v. Taylor, 520 F.3d 746, 747-49 (7th Cir. 2008). Offenders who did challenge the disparity at sentencing are entitled to a full remand and resentencing. Clanton, 538 F.3d at 659. We have previously granted these remands only to offenders sentenced under the drug-offense guideline, § 2D1.1, as opposed to the career offender guideline, § 4B1.1. See id. at 659-60. Although career offenders are subject to a 100:1 crack/powder sentencing disparity, that disparity does not originate in the advisory drugoffense guideline at issue in Kimbrough. Instead, it is the operation of mandatory statutes that subjects career offenders to the policy of harsher sentences for crackcocaine offenses. Congress has directed that career offenders convicted of offenses “described in” certain, enumerated statutes, including 21 U.S.C. § 841, be sentenced “at or near the maximum term authorized” for the offense. 28 U.S.C. § 994(h)(1)(B). To implement this directive, the career offender guideline prescribes base offense levels that track the statutory maximums of the offense of conviction. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(b). For convictions of drug offenses under 21 U.S.C. § 841, the 10 Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 applicable statutory maximums treat a given quantity of crack cocaine the same as 100 times that quantity of powder cocaine for sentencing purposes. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(ii)-(iii) (imposing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for drug offenses involving both 50 grams of crack and 5 kg of powder cocaine). It is this statutory penalty provision, incorporated into the Guidelines pursuant to another statute, 28 U.S.C. § 994(h), wherein the 100:1 crack/powder disparity affecting career offenders lies. Relying on the statutory origin of the crack/powder disparity embedded in § 4B1.1, we held in United States v. Harris, 536 F.3d 798, 813 (7th Cir. 2008), that Kimbrough had no effect on a career offender’s sentence. We reasoned that, although a sentencing disparity might occur under § 4B1.1 based on the type of cocaine involved, that disparity “is the product of a discrepancy created by statute.” Id. at 812-13. “While the sentencing guidelines may be only advisory for district judges, congressional legislation is not.” Id. at 813; see also United States v. Millbrook, 553 F.3d 1057, 1067 (7th Cir. 2009) (“Kimbrough’s discussion of a district court’s discretion to take into account the crack/powder disparity is of no consequence to a defendant sentenced under § 4B1.1 as a career offender.”); Clanton, 538 F.3d at 660 (“[A] sentence entered under the career offender guideline, § 4B.1.1, raises no Kimbrough problem . . . .” (quoting Harris, 536 F.3d at 813)). Given our holding in Harris, it may seem that Davis and Anthony, both career offenders sentenced under Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 11 § 4B1.1, are not entitled to resentencing in light of Kimbrough. However, these defendants cite United States v. Liddell, 543 F.3d 877 (7th Cir. 2008), in support of their argument that a district court may rely on the crack/powder disparity as a basis for imposing a sentence below the career offender guidelines range. After being sentenced as a career offender, Liddell argued on appeal that the district court should have considered the severity of the crack/powder disparity. Id. at 880, 882. Citing Harris, the court first noted that Liddell’s argument was problematic because the only crack/powder disparity that affected his sentence under § 4B1.1 was the product of a statute. Id. at 882-83. Nonetheless, the court then recognized what it called the defendant’s “more nuanced” argument of whether a district court “can consider the disparity as a reason for issuing a below-guideline sentence.” Id. at 883. This contention was ultimately rejected because Liddell did not raise it below, and any error by the district court in failing to consider his Kimbrough challenge was not plain. Id. at 883, 885; see also United States v. Hearn, 549 F.3d 680, 684 (7th Cir. 2008) (rejecting the defendant’s “more nuanced argument based on Kimbrough” under a plain-error standard of review (quoting Liddell, 543 F.3d at 883)). Liddell is difficult to reconcile with Harris, but it is not necessary to resolve the tension between these cases today because Davis and Anthony are entitled to resentencing for a reason not present in either case. Unlike the defendants in Harris and Liddell, the defendants in this case pleaded guilty to conspiracy under 21 U.S.C. § 846 but not to the substantive offense under 21 U.S.C. 12 Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 § 841. See Harris, 536 F.3d at 802 (conviction of distributing crack cocaine under § 841(a)); Liddell, 543 F.3d at 879 (guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute under § 841(a)). It is true that drug distribution or possession with the intent to distribute was the object of the Knox and Davis conspiracy, but that is of no con- sequence here. As mentioned above, the congressional directive that career offenders be sentenced “at or near” the statutory maximum applies only to certain, enumerated offenses of conviction. 28 U.S.C. § 994(h). Although substantive distribution offenses under § 841 are among the listed offenses, conspiracy offenses under § 846 are not. Id. § 994(h)(1)(B). Moreover, the precision with which § 994(h) includes certain drug offenses but excludes others indicates that the omission of § 846 was no oversight. Section 994(h)(1)(B) provides a narrow list of drug offenses that require the “at or near the maximum” career offender treatment, including distribution under § 841, importation of certain controlled substances under 21 U.S.C. § 952(a), and manufacturing and distributing on board vessels under 46 U.S.C. § 70503. The statute also omits several significant drug offenses, including the use of a communication facility to facilitate a drug offense under 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) and simple possession under 21 U.S.C. § 844. Perhaps the best example of the statute’s precision is the inclusion of only those importation offenses involving the most harmful drugs. Section 994(h) includes 21 U.S.C. § 952(a), which prohibits the importation of schedule I and II controlled substances and narcotic drugs under schedules III, IV, and V, but Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 13 carefully excludes 21 U.S.C. § 952(b), which prohibits the importation of nonnarcotic schedule III, IV, and V substances. Also telling is § 994(h)’s inclusion of a conspiracy offense other than § 846. The statute incorporates all maritime drug offenses “described in . . . chapter 705 of title 46.” 28 U.S.C. § 994(h)(1)(B). That chapter includes, among other things, a penalty provision for “attempts and conspiracies” to manufacture controlled substances on board vessels. 46 U.S.C. § 70506(b). If Congress wanted to include the Controlled Substances Act’s analogous § 846 conspiracy provision, it knew how to do so. And simply reading § 846 offenses into § 994(h) would undermine Congress’s intent to exclude certain drug offenses from the statute’s reach. Since § 846 prohibits any attempt or conspiracy “to commit any offense defined in this subchapter,” incorporating § 846 into § 994(h) would include through the back door as the object of a conspiracy substantive drug offenses, such as simple possession of a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844, that Congress specifically omitted from the “at or near the maximum” directive. Based on the deliberate manner in which § 994(h) includes specific drug offenses but excludes others, Congress did not intend to include § 846 offenses among those requiring sentences “at or near” the statutory maximum. Because § 846 is not included in this statutory mandate, § 994(h) does not limit a district court’s discretion under Kimbrough to consider the crack/powder disparity affecting a career offender convicted under § 846. 14 Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 True, the career offender guideline itself draws no distinction between § 841 and § 846 offenses for sentencing purposes. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2 cmt. n.1 (defining the drug offenses qualifying for career-offender treatment to include “the offenses of aiding and abetting, conspiring, and attempting to commit such offenses”). Relying on its “general guideline promulgation authority under 28 U.S.C. § 994(a)-(f),” the Sentencing Commission has gone beyond the specific offenses listed in § 994(h) and included § 846 conspiracy offenses in § 4B1.1. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 cmt. bkgd. Courts have repeatedly recognized that this exercise of the Commission’s authority under § 994 was valid. E.g., United States v. Damerville, 27 F.3d 254, 257 (7th Cir. 1994); United States v. Mendoza-Figueroa, 65 F.3d 691, 693-94 (8th Cir. 1995) (en banc). Indeed, the Senate Report to § 994(h) provides that the statute is “not necessarily intended to be an exhaustive list of types of cases in which . . . terms at or close to authorized maxima should be specified.” S. Rep. No. 98225, at 176 (1983), as reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3182, 3359; see also Mendoza-Figueroa, 65 F.3d at 694 (relying on legislative history to conclude that § 994(h) “is ample authority to include drug conspiracies as qualifying offenses”). Moreover, since the statutory penalties for conspiracy offenses under § 846 and substantive offenses under § 841 are the same, the Commission had good reason to go beyond the specific mandate of § 994(h) and include conspiracy offenses in the career offender guideline. Damerville, 27 F.3d at 257; United States v. Jackson, 60 F.3d 128, 133 (2d Cir. 1995). Still, although the Commission had the authority to include drug conspiracy offenses under § 846 in the Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 15 career offender guideline, nothing in the text of § 994(h) requires the Commission to do so. See Damerville, 27 F.3d at 257 (“Section 994(h) provides the minimum obligation of the Commission and does not prohibit the inclusion of additional offenses that qualify for such treatment.”); United States v. Piper, 35 F.3d 611, 618 (1st Cir. 1994) (explaining that only those offenses listed in § 994(h) comprise “the irreducible minimum that the Commission must do by way of a career offender guideline”); United States v. Heim, 15 F.3d 830, 832 (9th Cir. 1994) (“The Commission’s decision to go beyond the mandate of § 994(h) is . . . consistent with the legislative history to § 994(h).” (emphasis added)). So the Commission’s decision to include conspiracy offenses in the career offender guideline—and thereby subject § 846 offenders to the crack/powder disparity contained in the statutory maximums—reflects an exercise of discretion. See United States v. Allen, 24 F.3d 1180, 1186 (10th Cir. 1994) (“Section 994(h) does not, by mandating enhancement for certain crimes, preclude the Commission from enhancing others if it is within the Commission’s grant of discretion to do so.”). Such policy decisions made by the Commission in developing the Guidelines are not binding on sentencing courts. See Kimbrough, 128 S. Ct. at 570-71 (observing that no congressional act prevented sentencing courts from disagreeing with the crack/powder disparity embedded in § 2D1.1); United States v. Spears, 129 S. Ct. 840, 843 (2009) (per curiam) (Kimbrough recognized “district courts’ authority to vary from the crack cocaine Guidelines based on policy disagreement with them . . . .”). Since no congressional statute requires that a career offender convicted of a conspiracy offense under 21 U.S.C. 16 Nos. 06-4101, 06-4376 & 07-1813 § 846 be sentenced “at or near” the statutory maximum, sentencing courts have the discretion under Kimbrough to consider the crack/powder disparity affecting such an offender’s sentence. It follows that Davis and Anthony, who both pleaded guilty to conspiracy under § 846 but not to the substantive drug offense under § 841, are entitled to a remand for resentencing in light of Kimbrough.