Opinion ID: 2768950
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Neal’s Faretta waiver was valid.

Text: Neal claims that his waiver of counsel in his Faretta hearing was not voluntary, knowing, and intelligent. We review whether a Faretta waiver satisfied these requirements de novo, even where the defendant failed to raise the issue of the validity of the Faretta waiver to the district court. United States v. Erskine, 355 F.3d 1161, 1166–67 (9th Cir. 2004). Although no specific colloquy is required, we have held a waiver is voluntary, knowing, and intelligent if the defendant was informed and understands (a) “the nature of the charges against him,” (b) “the possible penalties,” and (c) “the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation.” United States v. Balough, 820 F.2d 1485, 1487–88 (9th Cir. 1987). Neal’s Faretta waiver was voluntary, knowing, and intelligent. Prior to Neal’s arraignment and plea hearing, Neal informed his appointed counsel he wished to represent himself. Neal renewed the request at his arraignment and plea hearing. In response to Neal’s request, the court immediately conducted a Faretta hearing. At the Faretta hearing, the court clearly explained the charges and possible penalties to Neal. The court also explained the specific allegations to Neal. The court informed Neal that each offense was punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000. The court, in an effort to convey the seriousness of the charges, told Neal that his sentence could be 140 years if the court decided to run the sentences consecutively. The court also engaged in a lengthy discussion about sentencing, sentencing guidelines, and factors used by a court when sentencing. Neal consistently assured the court that he UNITED STATES V. NEAL 23 understood what he was being told and that he did not have any questions. The record also established that the court spent a significant amount of time warning Neal about the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation. Neal was advised that, if he chose to represent himself, he was going to be held to the same rules of evidence and the same rules of procedure as if an attorney was representing him. The court discussed the rules of evidence and criminal procedure, explaining that the rules can prove critical in a case. Although Neal indicated he was knowledgeable about the rules, the court still cautioned that the rules were often complicated and difficult, even for lawyers. The court also explained that trial was difficult. Neal was informed he would be on his own and the court could not advise or help him. The court advised Neal it was unwise to represent himself and that he would be better off being represented by a trained attorney.11 However, Neal was insistent in his desire to represent himself. Neal assured the court he had no questions and that he understood the pitfalls of representing himself. When the court finally asked Neal, in light of the penalty if he was 11 Continuing to caution Neal, the judge stated that if he were “charged with a crime, I would want an attorney to represent me.” The judge continued, “I’m just telling you personally that I would want someone to represent me because when you have something personal at stake, sometimes you lose sight of the strategic details and other things when you’re too personally involved. So although I would have long discussions with my attorney and give my attorney my opinions and try and guide them in what I thought were important things, I would be represented by an attorney if I were charged with a crime. And in my opinion I think that you’d be better served by having a trained attorney to represent you.” 24 UNITED STATES V. NEAL found guilty, whether he still wished to represent himself and give up his right to be represented by counsel, Neal responded “absolutely.” After review, the record does not evidence that Neal failed to understand the nature of the charges against him, the possible penalties, or the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation. Neal clearly endorsed the “sovereign citizen” ideology. Neal’s request to represent himself could not be denied solely because he adhered to such beliefs. The right to represent oneself, like the right to counsel, is secured by the Constitution. See Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 814–15 (1975). “[F]orcing a lawyer upon an unwilling defendant is contrary to his basic right to defend himself if he truly wants to do so.” Id. at 817. The choice must be honored even when it is ultimately to the defendant’s own detriment. Id. at 834. The evidence demonstrates that Neal knew exactly what he was doing and made the choice to represent himself with eyes open. See Id. at 835. 3. The district court’s application of the Sentencing Guidelines was not plainly erroneous. Neal argues that the court should not have applied the two-level, multiple lien enhancement under USSG § 2A6.1(b)(2)(B) (“Offense Specific Guideline”) to his sentence. Instead, he argues, the Offense Specific Guideline only allows application of the multiple lien enhancement when there are multiple offenses against the same victim. In Neal’s circumstance, while he was convicted of fourteen offenses, each offense involved a different victim. Neal also argues that, even if the Offense Specific Guideline enhancement applied, it was error for the court to UNITED STATES V. NEAL 25 apply it here. He argues its application results in impermissible double counting. The fourteen offenses were previously accounted for when the district court increased Neal’s base offense level by five points under USSG § 3D1.4 (“Multiple Count Grouping Guideline”). Therefore, Neal argues, the fourteen offenses were double counted when the court also added the multiple lien enhancement under the Offense Specific Guideline. We review de novo the district court’s interpretation of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. United States v. Johansson, 249 F.3d 848, 858 (9th Cir. 2001). Because Neal did not raise this objection in the district court, we review the district court’s application of the Sentencing Guidelines for plain error. United States v. Hammons, 558 F.3d 1100, 1103 (9th Cir. 2009). A. It was not plain error to apply the two-level enhancement to Neal’s sentence for multiple liens against multiple victims. USSG § 2A6.1(b)(2)(B) specifically addresses sentencing for harms associated with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1521. It was added to the USSG after 18 U.S.C. § 1521 was enacted in 2007. See USSG app. C amend 718 (2007). The plain language of the subsection provides for a two-level enhancement “[i]f the defendant is convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 1521 and the offense involved more than two false liens or encumbrances.” See USSG § 2A6.1(b)(2)(B) (emphasis added). Neal contends the court should not have applied the enhancement, because he was convicted of fourteen offenses and each offense only involved one lien. Neal explains that 26 UNITED STATES V. NEAL each of the fourteen liens he attempted to file was charged as a separate count and a separate violation of § 1521. Therefore, he was ultimately charged with fourteen separate offenses. Each offense represented one lien—each offense did not involve more than two false liens or encumbrances. Neal has misinterpreted § 2A6.1(b)(2)(B). To clarify when the two-level multiple lien enhancement is applicable, we look to the application notes. See United States v. Hernandez-Sandoval, 211 F.3d 1115, 1117 n.3 (9th Cir. 2000) (“In general, the application notes are binding on the courts in their construction of the Sentencing Guidelines”). Application Note (1) provides: Scope of Conduct to Be Considered.—In determining whether subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), and (b)(3) apply, the court shall consider conduct that occurred prior to or during the offense; however, conduct that occurred prior to the offense must be substantially and directly connected to the offense, under the facts of the case taken as a whole. For example, if the defendant engaged in several acts of mailing threatening letters to the same victim over a period of years (including acts that occurred prior to the offense), then for purposes of determining whether subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), and (b)(3) apply, the court shall consider only those prior acts of threatening the victim that have a substantial and direct connection to the offense. UNITED STATES V. NEAL 27 USSG § 2A6.1 cmt. n.1(emphasis added). In determining whether to apply the enhancement, Note (1) requires a sentencing court to consider conduct occurring during the offense. Note (1) also requires a sentencing court to consider prior conduct, but only if the prior conduct was substantially and directly connected to the offense. Note (1) does not specify any number of victims to whom the conduct must occur. Note (1) merely cautions a court to only consider conduct that is substantially and directly connected to the offense. We agree that the example in Note (1) clearly indicates multiple offenses against the same victim is conduct that a court must consider. However, because it is only an example, it does not preclude a court from applying the enhancement for multiple offenses against different victims. Note (1) only requires that a sentencing court consider conduct occurring during the offense and conduct that occurred prior to the offense that is substantially and directly related to the offense. In short, because Note (1) requires a sentencing court to consider conduct occurring prior to and during the offense, and does not expressly preclude a court from considering other charged offenses aimed at different victims, it was not plain error for the district court to conclude that Neal’s offense (placing a lien on a victim) “involved” the false liens placed on other victims that occurred prior to and during the offense conduct. Therefore, on plain error review, we cannot say the court committed error when it concluded that Neal’s offense made him eligible for an enhancement under USSG § 2A6.1(b)(2).12 12 The question of whether we would have reached the same conclusion if we were deciding the question in the first instance is not before us. 28 UNITED STATES V. NEAL B. It was not plain error for the district court to apply multiple enhancements to Neal’s sentence. “As a general rule, it is appropriate for a court to consider all applicable Guidelines provisions in calculating the guidelines range for an offense. In particular, the Sentencing Guidelines contemplate that courts will apply all applicable specific offense characteristics to enhance the base offense level.” United States v. Smith, 719 F.3d 1120, 1123 (9th Cir. 2013); see also USSG § 1B1.1(a)(2). We infer that the Sentencing Commission would not intend us to apply a Guideline provision that “would increase a defendant’s punishment on account of a kind of harm that has already been fully accounted for by application of another part of the Guidelines.” Smith, 719 F.3d at 1124 (internal quotation marks omitted). However, “when each invocation of the behavior serves a unique purpose under the Guidelines, we conclude that the Commission authorized and intended the cumulative application of both provisions.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). On plain error review, we cannot say the district court committed error when determining Neal’s sentence. The district court applied upward enhancements under the Multiple Count Grouping Guideline § 3D1.4 and under the Offense Specific Guideline § 2A6.1(b)(2)(B). Because the enhancements serve distinct purposes, we conclude that the Commission “authorized and intended” the cumulative application of both provisions. See Smith, 719 F.3d at 1124. UNITED STATES V. NEAL 29
Section § 3D1.4 provides for upward enhancements when a defendant commits multiple offenses. Because Neal was convicted of fourteen offenses, Neal’s base offense level was increased by five points. Section § 3D1.4 accomplishes the Guidelines’ overall objective of providing “incremental punishment for a defendant who is convicted of multiple offenses.” See United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148, 154 (1997). ii. Offense Specific Guideline § 2A6.1(b)(2)(B). On the other hand, the enhancement under Section 2A6.1(b)(2)(B) serves a distinct purpose from the purpose of Section 3D1.4. The Offense Specific Guideline § 2A6.1(b)(2)(B) enhancement accounts for “the additional time and resources required to remove multiple false liens or encumbrances,” rather than accounting for incremental punishment for multiple offenses. See USSG app. C amend. 718 (2007). The Comments to the Amendment enacting § 2A6.1(b)(2)(B) provide: [T]he amendment expands the scope of the two-level enhancement at subsection (b)(2) to apply if the defendant is convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 1521 and the offense involved more than two false liens or encumbrances, and also provides an upward departure provision that may apply if the offense involved substantially more than two false liens or encumbrances against the real or personal property of the same victim. These modifications reflect the additional time and 30 UNITED STATES V. NEAL resources required to remove multiple false liens or encumbrances. Id. (emphasis added). According to the Comments, the § 2A6.1(b)(2) enhancement may be imposed for one of two reasons (only one of which Neal challenges). The enhancement focuses on the number of false liens or encumbrances, not the number of victims. Additionally, § 2A6.1 Application Note (4)(B) specifically allows for an upward departure if the offense involved multiple liens and multiple victims. Note (4)(B) provides: (B) Multiple Threats, False Liens or Encumbrances, or Victims; Pecuniary H a r m . — If t h e o f f e n s e i n v o l v e d
communications to the same victim, (ii) a prolonged period of making harassing communications to the same victim, (iii) substantially more than two false liens or encumbrances against the real or personal property of the same victim, (iv) multiple victims, or (v) substantial pecuniary harm to a victim, an upward departure may be warranted. USSG § 2A6.1 cmt. n.4(b) (emphasis added). On plain error review, we cannot say the district court committed error in applying multiple enhancements to Neal’s sentence. UNITED STATES V. NEAL 31 4. The district court did not plainly err in imposing Neal’s sentence, despite Neal’s presentence report incorrectly listing the lengths of his previous sentences. Neal argues that the district court imposed a longer sentence than it otherwise would have imposed, because his presentence report incorrectly reported the lengths of his previous sentences. Neal’s previous convictions were listed in the criminal history section of his presentence report. The presentence report indicated Neal was convicted of eight separate counts related to a bank robbery. Each count was listed separately along with its corresponding sentence (in months). However, the presentence report did not include a total number of months of imprisonment for the eight related counts. Neal argues that, if the months of imprisonment listed in the presentence report for the eight counts related to the bank robbery had been totaled, that total would show the report had incorrectly listed the length of the individual sentences. We agree that, if the individual sentences listed in the presentence report had been totaled, the total would have been 425 months of incarceration, even though Neal was actually sentenced to a total of 665 months of incarceration for the related counts. However, we find no evidence to substantiate Neal’s argument that, “[i]f the court had known” his previous sentence was 665 months instead of 425 months as indicated in the presentence report, “there was a reasonable probability that the court would have imposed a lesser [current] sentence.” Neal is correct, his presentence report did not indicate the correct total number of months of imprisonment for his previous sentences. However, Neal has provided no evidence to indicate that the probation office used the length 32 UNITED STATES V. NEAL of his previous sentences (correct or incorrect) at all, in its Sentencing Guidelines calculation. Nor is there evidence that the lengths of Neal’s previous sentences were used for the probation office’s within-Guidelines recommendation for Neal’s current sentence. Similarly, there is no evidence to indicate the court used Neal’s previous sentences when determining the current sentence. The district court sentenced Neal in accordance with the Guidelines. According to USSG § 5G1.3(a) “[i]f the instant offense was committed while the defendant was serving a term of imprisonment . . . the sentence for the instant offense shall be imposed to run consecutively to the undischarged term of imprisonment.” (Emphasis added). When sentencing Neal, the district court ordered that “[a]ny sentence imposed is to be served consecutively, however, to any undischarged term of imprisonment which the defendant is currently serving.” (Emphasis added). Because the district court neither miscalculated Neal’s sentence nor relied on erroneous information in calculating his sentence, we conclude that the sentence imposed was not plainly erroneous. For the foregoing reasons, Neal’s conviction and sentence are AFFIRMED.