Opinion ID: 2995175
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Obstruction of Justice and Acceptance

Text: of Responsibility The district court also determined that Mr. Anderson had perjured himself and therefore should receive a two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice under U.S.S.G. sec. 3C1.1. Specifically, the court found that he lied when he (1) denied that he caused the Kern withdrawals and the additional Wasserbauer withdrawals that were presented as relevant conduct and (2) claimed that he never intended to keep the Wasserbauer funds that he was charged with embezzling in the indictment. A sentencing court may enhance a defendant’s offense level under sec. 3C1.1 if the defendant willfully obstructed or impeded . . . the administration of justice during the course of the investigation, prosecution, or sentencing. U.S.S.G. sec. 3C1.1. An enhancement under U.S.S.G. sec. 3C1.1 for perjury is appropriate when a ’witness testifying under oath or affirmation . . . gives false testimony concerning a material matter with the willful intent to provide false testimony, rather than as a result of confusion, mistake, or faulty memory.’ United States v. Jefferson, 252 F.3d 937, 942-43 (7th Cir. 2001) (quoting United States v. Dunnigan, 507 U.S. 87, 94 (1993)); see also United States v. Gage, 183 F.3d 711, 715 (7th Cir. 1999). Although it is advisable for a district court to address each element of the alleged perjury in a separate and clear finding, all that is required to impose the obstruction of justice enhancement on perjury grounds is that the court make a finding that encompasses the factual predicates for a finding of perjury. See United States v. White, 240 F.3d 656, 662 (7th Cir. 2001); United States v. Freitag, 230 F.3d 1019, 1026 (7th Cir. 2000). We review de novo whether the dis trict court made the appropriate findings to support a sec. 3C1.1 enhancement for perjury. See United States v. Turner, 203 F.3d 1010, 1020 (7th Cir. 2000). If the appropriate findings are made, we review the factual findings underlying the district court’s determination that perjury occurred for clear error. See id. We fully recognize that the district judge was in the best position to evaluate [Mr. Anderson’s] truthfulness and we will not disturb [his] sentence unless we are firmly convinced that the sentencing judge was mistaken when he determined that [Mr. Anderson] committed perjury. United States v. Stokes, 211 F.3d 1039, 1044 (7th Cir. 2000) (citations and quotation marks omitted). Mr. Anderson argues that the court clearly erred in determining that he committed perjury at the sentencing hearing./6 With regard to the district court’s finding of perjury regarding the Kern withdrawals and the additional Wasserbauer withdrawals presented as relevant conduct, we have previously indicated that the court did not clearly err in concluding that Mr. Anderson was responsible for taking those funds. As a result, we cannot agree with Mr. Anderson that the district court clearly erred in determining that his denial of that conduct amounted to perjury. Mr. Anderson also testified at the sentencing hearing that, although he had embezzled the funds from the Wasserbauer account charged in the indictment, he intended only to invest those funds in something that would make more money, keep the percentage, and then repay whatever I had taken out [of the Wasserbauer account]. Tr. II at 92. The district court found, however, that this claim also amounted to perjury and warranted the obstruction enhancement. Ample evidence supported this finding. For example, Mr. Anderson did not return these funds to the bank until after the FBI had visited him and indicated that it knew that he had taken the money without authorization. Moreover, Mr. Anderson admitted that he had placed these funds in accounts set up in the names of relatives and that he had used the money for his personal benefit. These facts provide sufficient evidence to support a finding that Mr. Anderson intended to conceal these withdrawals and to appropriate the money on a permanent basis, and that he only returned the funds when the authorities indicated that they were aware of his wrongdoing. As a result, the court’s finding of perjury in this regard also supports the enhancement. Additionally, Mr. Anderson contests the court’s denial of a three-level reduction in his sentence for acceptance of responsibility under U.S.S.G. sec. 3E1.1. The court declined to grant this reduction because it found that Mr. Anderson had committed perjury as to the matters we have just discussed. Whether a defendant has accepted responsibility for his actions is a factual question and one that we review for clear error. See United States v. Utecht, 238 F.3d 882, 888 (7th Cir. 2001); United States v. Taliaferro, 211 F.3d 412, 414 (7th Cir. 2000). When a sentencing court properly enhances a defendant’s offense level under U.S.S.G. sec. 3C1.1 for obstructing justice, the defendant is presumed not to have accepted respon-sibility for his actions under the meaning of U.S.S.G. sec. 3E1.1. See U.S.S.G. sec. 3E1.1, Application Note 4; United States v. Branch, 195 F.3d 928, 937 (7th Cir. 1999); United States v. Ewing, 129 F.3d 430, 435 (7th Cir. 1997). There may be extraordinary cases in which adjustments under both sec.sec. 3C1.1 and 3E1.1 may apply, U.S.S.G. sec. 3E1.1, Application Note 4, such as when a defendant obstructed justice at an early point, but then later accepted responsibility and cooperated fully, see United States v. Lallemand, 989 F.2d 936, 938 (7th Cir. 1993) (explaining that a defendant can obstruct or attempt to obstruct justice at time t and later accept responsibility at time t + 1). However, Mr. Anderson does not contend that this is such a case. Instead, he simply argues that, because the district court improperly found his statements to warrant an enhancement for obstruction of justice, the court erred in not granting him a reduction for acceptance of responsibility. In line with our conclusion that the district court did not err when it found that Mr. Anderson had committed perjury at the sentencing hearing, we also determine that it did not clearly err in denying a reduction under U.S.S.G. sec. 3E1.1.