Opinion ID: 696224
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Deborah Johnson-Dix

Text: 97 The sole issue in Johnson-Dix' appeal is whether Nunnally's gunshot wound constituted serious bodily injury, or only bodily injury, under the Guidelines. The guideline applicable to extortion requires a four-level enhancement if any victim sustained serious bodily injury. U.S.S.G. Sec. 2B3.2(b)(4)(B). That term is defined to include any injury involving extreme physical pain or the impairment of a function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty; or requiring medical intervention such as surgery, hospitalization, or physical rehabilitation. U.S.S.G. Sec. 1B1.1, App.Note 1(j). The district court found that the four-level enhancement applied here because the gunshot from Johnson-Dix' Tec 9, which broke Nunnally's fibula and left both entry and exit wounds, caused extreme physical pain and also impaired the function of a bodily member. (Sept. 14, 1993 Tr. at 10-11.) We review the district court's finding as to the seriousness of Nunnally's injuries for clear error. United States v. Davis, 19 F.3d 166, 171 (5th Cir.1994); United States v. Slow Bear, 943 F.2d 836, 838 (8th Cir.1991). 98 Johnson-Dix insists that the bullet from her gun caused only bodily injury, as opposed to serious bodily injury. 10 The Guidelines define bodily injury as any significant injury--that is, any injury that is painful and obvious, or is of a type for which medical attention ordinarily would be sought. U.S.S.G. Sec. 1B1.1, App.Note 1(b). Johnson-Dix maintains that this definition more accurately describes Nunnally's gun shot wound, as there is nothing to indicate that Nunnally's physical pain was extreme, that the injury required surgery, or that it did not heal completely. 99 Our colleagues in the Fifth Circuit affirmed a finding of serious bodily injury where a gun shot wound was less severe than Nunnally's injury here. See United States v. Moore, 997 F.2d 30, 37 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 647, 126 L.Ed.2d 605 (1993). In that case, a police officer had been shot in the leg, causing entry and exit wounds but requiring neither surgery nor hospitalization other than emergency room treatment. Although the court suggested that a lower departure may arguably have been more appropriate, it found no clear error in the district court's fact-based finding. Id. 100 In the instant case, the bullet fractured Nunnally's fibula in addition to causing entry and exit wounds. Nunnally was hospitalized for over two days and his lower leg was placed in a cast. The district court's characterization of the wound as serious bodily injury was not clearly erroneous. See also United States v. Desormeaux, 4 F.3d 628, 630 (8th Cir.1993) (lacerated kidney from stabbing is serious bodily injury); United States v. Reese, 2 F.3d 870, 897 (9th Cir.1993) (fractured elbow constitutes serious bodily injury), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 928, 127 L.Ed.2d 220 (1994); United States v. Corbin, 972 F.2d 271, 272 (9th Cir.1992) (head laceration requiring twenty-five sutures is serious bodily injury); Slow Bear, 943 F.2d at 838 (skull fracture requiring hospitalization is serious bodily injury).