Court Opinion

ID: 9486985
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:05:28.481739+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:02.528276
License: Public Domain

BARTLETT, District Judge,
dissenting.
Section 994(h) does not define the only crimes that may be included by the Sentencing Commission in the determination of career offender status under the guidelines; it merely states that the enumerated crimes must be included. United States v. Baker, 16 F.3d 854, 857 (8th Cir.1994); United States v. Heim, 15 F.3d 830, 832 (9th Cir.1994); See S.Rep. No. 225, 98th Cong., 2nd Sess. 176 (1983), reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3182, 3359. Thus, as the result of the Commission’s broad mandate under section 994(a) to establish sentencing guidelines, the Commission has the authority to include in section 4B1.1 offenses, such as conspiracy, that are not found in section 994(h). See Baker, 16 F.3d at 857; United States v. Price, 990 F.2d 1367, 1369 (D.C.Cir.1993).
However, because the Commission expressly stated that section 4B1.1 was designed to implement the mandate of section 994(h), but did not expressly state that section 4B1.1 was also promulgated pursuant to the authority found in section 994(a), the majority concludes that the Commission intended to implement only the mandate of section 994(h) when it adopted section 4B1.1. Because section 994(h) does not include conspiracy, the majority determines that the Commission erroneously included conspiracy in section 4B1.1. I disagree with the majority’s reasoning.
As explained by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Heim, the Commission’s state*769ment in section 4B1.1 that the career offender guidelines were intended to implement the mandate of section 994(h) “means what it says — the Commission intended to implement the mandate of § 994(h).” 15 F.3d at 832. However, there is no indication that the Commission, in promulgating section 4B1.1, intended only to implement section 994(h) and not to accomplish any other legitimate sentencing purpose. In other words, by stating its desire to implement the mandate of section 994(h), the Commission did not suggest that it considered section 994(h) to be the only authority for adopting the career offender guidelines. Heim, 15 F.3d at 832. The “Commission has generally declared that its Guidelines are issued pursuant to its broad authority under section 994(a).” Baker, 16 F.3d at 857; see U.S.S.G. Ch. 1, Part A, § 1.
The Commission is not required to state within each guideline its authority for promulgating that guideline or all sources of its authority to promulgate that guideline. Here, the Commission had authority to promulgate 4B1.1 based on section 994(a), and has stated generally that the guidelines are issued pursuant to section 994(a). That the Commission also found authority in section 994(h) does not restrict its authority under section 994(a) to include in the determination of career offender status offenses beyond those enumerated in section 994(h). Accordingly, I agree with the panel of this court in Baker that had “serious doubts” about the conclusion that the only purpose of the career offender guidelines was to implement section 994(h). 16 F.3d at 857.
In 21 U.S.C. § 846 (1988), Congress directed that “[a]ny person who ... conspires to commit any [drug] offense ... shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the ... conspiracy.” Therefore, the Sentencing Commission reasonably included conspiracy to commit the offenses referred to in section 994(h) as predicate offenses for determining career offender status under section 4B1.1.
For these reasons, I conclude that the Commission properly extended career offender status to include conspiracy to commit one of the offenses enumerated in § 994(h) and thus the district court did not err in sentencing Mendoza-Figueroa as a career offender. I respectfully dissent.