Court Opinion

ID: 2964045
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:19:33.555756+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:01:33.671201
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                                 ____________________

        No. 95-1720

                              UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                      Appellee,

                                          v.

                                 JAMES H. ABERNATHY,

                                Defendant, Appellant.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                           FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

                [Hon. Raymond J. Pettine, Senior U.S. District Judge]
                                          __________________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                 Selya, Circuit Judge,
                                        _____________

                            Aldrich, Senior Circuit Judge,
                                     ____________________

                              and Stahl, Circuit Judge.
                                         _____________

                                 ____________________

            Edward  F.  Grourke with  whom Finan  & Grourke  was on  brief for
            ___________________            ________________
        appellant.
            Sheldon Whitehouse, United States Attorney, for appellee.
            __________________  ______________________

                                 ____________________

                                    April 30, 1996
                                 ____________________

                      ALDRICH, Senior Circuit Judge.  James H. Abernathy,
                               ____________________

            driving  a Massachusetts registered  car in Providence, Rhode

            Island,  was stopped by two  policemen, one of  whom, when he

            peered into  defendant's vehicle, observed the butt  of a .45

            caliber Colt  semi-automatic pistol  sticking out from  under

            the driver's seat.  Indicted as a result, defendant initially

            pleaded guilty to two counts:  Count I, as a convicted  felon

            carrying a firearm that had  been in interstate commerce,  in

            violation of 18 U.S.C.   922(g)(1); Count II, carrying an arm

            that  had been  in  interstate commerce  with an  obliterated

            serial number, in violation of 18 U.S.C.   922(k).  Defendant

            was sentenced  to 110  months imprisonment followed  by three

            years supervised release on  Count I, and to a  concurrent 60

            months imprisonment on Count  II.  Over one year  later, upon

            defendant's motion, the entire  sentence was vacated in order

            to reinstate his right  to pursue a direct appeal,  which had

            been dismissed for want of prosecution.  Thereafter, prior to

            resentencing,  defendant moved  to  withdraw his  plea.   The

            court  denied the  motion  and resentenced  defendant to  the

            original terms.   This  appeal ensued, raising  the following

            points: (1) the lawfulness of the stop; (2) whether defendant

            should  have been  allowed  to  withdraw  his pleas  on  both

            counts;  and  (3)  the  constitutionality  of   the  statutes

            proscribing his conduct.   We affirm on (1) and  (3).  On (2)

            we reverse and vacate the sentence with respect to Count II.

                                         -2-

                                      The Arrest
                                      __________

                      The  officers were  in  an unmarked  car, in  plain

            clothes.   Some  of  the evidence  might support  defendant's

            claim that this  was an unlawful  investigatory stop.   Ample

            evidence, however, supports the district court's finding of a

            justified  traffic violation  stop, including  testimony that

            defendant travelled in the wrong lane of traffic and then ran

            a stop sign.   No purpose would be  served in discussing  the

            district court's careful  analysis and reasonable credibility

            resolutions.    The  fact  that  the   officers  were  on  an

            undercover  investigatory narcotics detail does not mean that

            they could not lawfully make a proper traffic stop.

                                Withdrawal of the Plea
                                ______________________

                      Withdrawal of a guilty plea prior to sentencing may

            be granted for "fair and just  reason."  See Fed. R. Crim. P.
                                                     ___

            32(e) (1994);  United States  v. Cotal-Crespo,  47 F.3d 1,  3
                           _____________     ____________

            (1st Cir.), cert.  denied, ___  U.S. ___, 116  S.Ct. 94,  133
                        _____________

            L.Ed.2d 49 (1995).  After sentencing, the defendant must show

            a defect attending the plea that amounts to a "miscarriage of

            justice," or  "an omission inconsistent with  the rudimentary

            demands of  fair procedure."  United  States v. Lopez-Pineda,
                                          ______________    ____________

            55 F.3d  693, 697  (1st Cir.) (internal  quotations omitted),

            cert. denied, ___  U.S. ___  116 S.Ct. 259,  133 L.Ed.2d  183
            ____________

            (1995).     Although   the   United  States   attaches  great

            significance  to the category to  which defendant ought to be

                                         -3-

            assigned, whether defendant's plea was  knowing and voluntary

            within  the  meaning   of  Criminal  Rule  11  is   the  most

            significant factor  under either standard.   United States v.
                                                         _____________

            Allard, 926 F.2d 1237, 1243 (1st Cir. 1991).
            ______

                      With respect to Count  I this is a routine  case --

            the court  was well warranted in  finding no misunderstanding

            of the charge  by defendant, nor was there  any other flaw in

            the plea proceedings.  Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(a)-(f).

                      There is a serious question, however,  with respect

            to Count II.  From the record, it appears that  the court, as

            well  as counsel for  both the government  and the defendant,

            understood that  the government was not  obliged to establish

            actual knowledge  on defendant's part that  the serial number

            had  been obliterated  at the  time of  his possession,1  and

            communicated this misunderstanding to the defendant.  We find

            this  failure to  apprise defendant  of the  elements  of the

            charge fundamentally  inconsistent with fair  procedure in an

                                
            ____________________

            1.  While, regrettably, some of our prior cases seem unclear,
            cf. United States v.  Chapdelaine, 989 F.2d 28, 33  (1st Cir.
            ___ _____________     ___________
            1993), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 696, 126 L.Ed.2d
                   ____________
            663  (1994), United States v.  Smith, 940 F.2d  710, 713 (1st
                         _____________     _____
            Cir. 1991), it is indisputable that actual knowledge has been
            a  necessary element of the  crime at least  since passage of
            the  Firearms Owners'  Protection  Act, Pub.  L. No.  99-308,
              104,  100  Stat.  456,   456  (1986),  which  modified  the
            attendant penalty provision  to require knowing  violation of
                                                    _______
              922(k)  in order  for  criminal sanctions  to  attach.   18
            U.S.C.   924(a)(1)(B).  See United States v. Hooker, 997 F.2d
                                    ___ _____________    ______
            67, 72 (5th Cir. 1993); United States v.  Haynes, 16 F.2d 29,
                                    _____________     ______
            34 (2nd Cir. 1994).  See  also United States v. De Leon Ruiz,
                                 ___  ____ _____________    ____________
            47 F.3d 452, 454 (1st Cir. 1995); United States v. Lanoue, 71
                                              _____________    ______
            F.3d 966, 983 (1st Cir. 1995).

                                         -4-

            acceptance of plea proceeding.  As the record contains strong

            support for defendant's claim that he lacked knowledge of the

            obliteration  -- at  the  very least  it  does not  establish

            otherwise -- we cannot  say the error was harmless.   Compare
                                                                  _______

            United States v. Ferguson, 60 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 1995).  See
            _____________    ________                                 ___

            Fed. R. Crim.  P. 11(h).   It  follows that  defendant has  a

            right to withdraw his plea on Count II.

                      Defendant's tangential suggestion that  the court's

            imposition of  a two-level  enhancement to his  offense level

            based on the obliteration  also requires reversal ignores the

            fact that this enhancement explicitly applies "whether or not

            the  defendant knew or had reason to believe that the firearm

            . . .  had an  altered or obliterated  serial number."   USSG

             2K2.1(b)(4), comment. (n.19).  See United States v. Schnell,
                                            ___ _____________    _______

            982 F.2d  216,  220-21  (7th  Cir. 1992);  United  States  v.
                                                       ______________

            Williams, 49 F.3d 92, 93 (2nd Cir. 1995).
            ________

                      Having in  mind that the  60-month sentence imposed

            on Count II was to be served concurrently with the 110  month

            sentence on Count I, the government  has suggested that there

            may be  possible advantages  to defendant in  not withdrawing

            the plea.  This  question is for defendant to  determine when

            returned to the district court, and we express no opinion.

                          Constitutionality of the Statutes
                          _________________________________

                      We  have recently  considered and  rejected similar

            arguments to those raised  by defendant challenging the power

                                         -5-

            of Congress under the  Commerce Clause to enact  the statutes

            underlying the charges  against him, in light of  the Supreme

            Court's ruling in United  States v. Lopez, ___ U.S.  ___, 115
                              ______________    _____

            S.Ct. 1624, 131  L.Ed.2d 626  (1995).  See  United States  v.
                                                   ___  _____________

            Bennett,  75  F.3d  40,  49 (1st  Cir.  1996)  (challenge  to
            _______

            constitutionality  of 18  U.S.C.   922(g)(1)  is "hopeless");

            United States v.  Diaz-Martinez, 71 F.3d  946, 953 (1st  Cir.
            _____________     _____________

            1995) (Lopez does not invalidate 18 U.S.C   922(k)).
                   _____

                      Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
                      ________          ________              ________

                                         -6-