Court Opinion

ID: 9852798
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:37:03.48655+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:34.764765
License: Public Domain

MERRITT, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I agree with the discussion of community service in Section II.A of the court’s opinion.
As to the sentence, it is clear that the jury in its guilty verdict accepted the testimony of several witnesses, including Wright, Loftis and Goolsby, that Gilpatrick obstructed justice by procuring a false statement and organized the violent assault in which Wright, Mullins, Grigg, Lof-tis and Goolsby, wittingly or unwittingly, acted as participants. Hence, the enhancements are based on the jury’s verdict and not on facts found de novo by the sentencing judge. The sentence, therefore, does not violate the Blakely-Booker-Cunningham line of cases which foreclose judicial fact findings outside the jury verdict that increase the Guideline offense level.