Court Opinion

ID: 9496620
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:31:05.479705+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:41.419801
License: Public Domain

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
When calculating the sentence for a person convicted of sexually abusing a minor, the district judge must apply the following rule: if “a participant ... unduly influenced the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct”, then add two levels. U.S.S.G. § 2A3.2(b)(2)(B). Mitchell contends that this rule does not apply to sting operations, for agents masquerading as underage girls cannot be “unduly influenced” and do not “engage in prohibited sexual conduct”. But § 2A3.2 as a whole applies to both attempts and completed offenses, so lack of success is not disposi-tive. To determine the proper scope of this enhancement, one has only to consult Application Note 1, which defines “victim” to mean “(A) an individual who, except as provided in subdivision (B), had not attained the age of 16 years; or (B) an undercover law enforcement officer who represented to a participant that the officer had not attained the age of 16 years.” Plugging the definition into the guideline produces this rule: if “a participant ... unduly influenced a law enforcement agent, posing as someone under 16 years old, to engage in prohibited sexual conduct”, then add two levels. This requires us to agree with United States v. Root, 296 F.3d 1222 (11th Cir.2002), that subsection (b)(2)(B) applies in sting operations, and to affirm the judgment of the district court.
The principal contrary argument in the majority’s opinion depends on the word “influenced”. It is in the past tense, which means, my colleagues believe, that the influence must have succeeded — which is impossible if the object of the defendant’s wiles is an agent. This is wrong linguistically: it may mean that influence lies in the past, but it does not mean that sexual relations occurred in the past. The latter portion of subsection (b)(2)(B) specifies an object but not a time: “to engage in prohibited sexual relations”, not “so that the victim engaged in prohibited sexual relations” or an equivalent phrase. To the *565extent there is doubt, we should read “influenced” to be compatible with the definition of “victim” rather than declare the two at loggerheads and chuck the definition of “victim” into the waste basket.
Actually the premise of this reliance on tense is wrong. The majority treats “influenced” as the only verb in § 2A3.2 that looks backward. If this is so, then tense may be informative. But it is not so. Here is the complete list of specific offense characteristics in § 2A3.2(b):
(1) If the victim was in the custody, care, or supervisory control of the defendant, increase by 2 levels.
(2) If subsection (b)(1) does not apply; and — ■
(A) the offense involved the knowing misrepresentation of a participant’s identity to (i) persuade, induce, entice, or coerce the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct; or (ii) facilitate transportation or travel, by the victim or a participant, to engage in prohibited sexual conduct; or
(B) a participant otherwise unduly influenced the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct,
increase by 2 levels.
(3) If a computer or an Internet-access device was used to (A) persuade, induce, entice, or coerce the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct; or (B) facilitate transportation or travel, by the victim or a participant, to engage in prohibited sexual conduct, increase by 2 levels.
(4) If (A) subsection (a)(1) applies; and (B) none of subsections (b)(1) through (b)(3) applies, decrease by 6 levels.
All of these are in the past tense. The verb in subsection (1) is “was”; the verb in subsection (2)(A) is “involved”; the verb in subsection (2)(B) is “influenced”; the verb in subsection (3) is “was used”. (The similar list of specific offense characteristics in U.S.S.G. § 2Gl.l(b), which deals with commercial sex, likewise is in the past tense.) Past tense makes sense from the perspective of judges (the addressees of the Guidelines) because, by the time of sentencing, all salient events lie in the past. Consider subsection (3), which adds two levels if a computer “was used” to persuade the victim to engage in sexual conduct. Mitchell received a two-level increase under this subsection, without protest. Yet subsections (2)(B) and (3) are parallel: where is the material difference between “influenced the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct” (subsection (2)(B)) and “used to ... induce ... the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct” (subsection (b)(3))? If the latter applies to Mitchell, so does the former.
Seeing significance in the tense of “influenced” is the majority’s novelty. Mitchell’s lawyer made nothing of the conjugations or inflections of these verbs, so the United States did not have occasion to respond. Mitchell’s choice was understandable, not only because the past tense runs throughout § 2A3.2 but also because it is the norm of the Sentencing Guidelines. Open the Guidelines Manual at random and read some specific offense characteristics. You’ll find that verbs are in the past tense. This makes it impossible to deduce from the past tense of “influence” in § 2A3.2(b)(2)(B) that any particular reading is called for.
What Mitchell did argue is that a completed sexual act is essential because the subsection uses the phrase “engage in prohibited sexual conduct”. This argument (which the majority does not accept) is wrong not only because of the definition of “victim” but also because all of § 2A3.2 applies to attempts as well as completed offenses. Many crimes can be committed, and enhancements applied for aggravating events, even though success was impossi*566ble. Think of fraudulent statements made to obtain a loan at a bank whose staff knows the truth, or perjury before a grand jury armed with accurate information, or attempts to purchase cocaine from federal agents who have only sugar to sell. These are real crimes, and the guidelines for each specify enhancements that apply to those aspects of the conduct that the offender did complete, even though success in the venture as a whole was impossible. Given the definition of “victim” in Application Note 1, § 2A3.2 must be included among these guidelines. Mitchell sent his blandishments to “Dena” over the Internet; this was completed conduct, and if the sort of things he wrote would have unduly influenced a real 14-year-old girl, then the enhancement applies.
Assessing “undue inducement” can be hard even if a sexual act took place. An offender might argue that the victim was eager for sexual relations and that the inducements thus were unnecessary, mutually desired, or not so overbearing as to be “undue” given the circumstances. So the Sentencing Commission included a presumption:
In a case in which a participant is at least 10 years older than the victim, there shall be a rebuttable presumption, for purposes of subsection (b)(2)(B), that such participant unduly influenced the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct. In such a case, some degree of undue influence can be presumed because of the substantial difference in age between the participant and the victim.
U.S.S.G. § 2A3.2 Application Note 4 ¶4. Mitchell was 50 years old at the time of the events in question; Dena pretended to be 14. The presumption of undue influence therefore kicks in — which makes it a puzzle why the majority suggests at the end of its opinion that the district judge neglected to develop the record; given this presumption, the burden was on Mitchell, not the prosecutor.
Mitchell’s brief takes on Application Note 4, calling the presumption “irrebutta-ble” and hence suspect, if not unconstitutional. Yet there’s nothing wrong with presumptions in sentencing; we see lots of sentences affected by the presumption in U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1) Application Note 3, that a gun found near drugs was connected to the offense unless the defendant shows that a link was “clearly improbable.” Challenges to this presumption have been unsuccessful. See, e.g., United States v. Johnson, 289 F.3d 1034, 1041-42 (7th Cir.2002); United States v. Bjorkman, 270 F.3d 482, 492 (7th Cir.2001). It is easier to rebut the age-difference presumption for sex offenses than the gun presumption for drug offenses. The court must decide whether the defendant did or said things that would compromise the vol-untariness of a child’s decision. Here, for example, Mitchell might have argued that he did not presume on Dena, that she led him on (her screen name was “ilgirl4u”, indicating predisposition, and they “met” in a chat room with the title “I LOVE OLDER MEN!!” that she had joined independently). That Dena was an agent rather than a youngster does not affect this process: assessment depends on the words exchanged, not on the contents of the victim’s head. The presumption might be rebutted by the language the agent used to describe her sexual history and desires, by the older person’s failure to make any effort to overcome real or feigned resistance, and so on. But Mitchell makes a legal rather than a factual objection (perhaps because his messages imply that he was using his age and sexual experience to inveigle Dena and overcome reluctance).
And if the presumption turns out to be very hard to defeat, why should that be dispositive? The presumption that a gun *567found with drugs is used in the crime is so hard to rebut that it might as well be conclusive. My colleagues imply that agents may too readily manipulate things to bring this enhancement into play, but one might as well say therefore that stings cannot be used in drug cases, because the agents can manipulate the weight of the drugs they offer to buy or sell. Yet this circuit has disparaged the doctrine of “sentencing entrapment,” see, e.g., United States v. Estrada, 256 F.3d 466, 473-77 (7th Cir.2002), and it is no more compelling in a sex case than in a drug case. See United States v. Richardson, 238 F.3d 837, 839-40 (7th Cir.2001) (sentence proper even though agent sent the defendant sadomasochistic images that he arguably did not want). Although a defendant who is wheedled or tricked into committing a more serious version of an offense may seek a downward departure, this possibility is no reason to change the way the offense level is determined. Mitchell did not ask for a downward departure on this ground, nor could he: there was plenty of predisposition on his part. Anyway, the majority’s rationale is not that the 10-year presumption does not apply to decoys but that subsection (b)(2)(B) itself may never be used unless sexual relations occur between the perpetrator and the victim — a rule that applies equally whether the victim is a real youngster or a pretend one. (My colleagues deny that they have held this, and that is technically correct, but they do not deny that this is the logical consequence of the opinion’s reasoning.)
The undue-influence enhancement in § 2A3.2(b)(2)(B) is kin to the vulnerable-victim enhancements found throughout the Sentencing Guidelines. Although the question whether vulnerable-victim enhancements apply to sting operations has not been much litigated, the sole appellate decision on the subject holds that they may be so applied. See United States v. Shenberg, 89 F.3d 1461, 1475-76 (11th Cir.1996). This is sensible. If a person sets out to prey on the weak and infirm (say, selling securities to residents of nursing homes), then the enhancement should apply even if the “victim” in a given case is an agent posing as a doddering 85-year-old woman with more money than caution. Just so when an agent poses as a suggestible 14-year-old girl.
Treating the enhancement for undue influence as (potentially) applicable to sting operations makes functional as well as linguistic sense. The preceding example shows why. The difference between attempted and completed sexual abuse lies not in subsection (b)(2)(B) but in subsection (a): the base level is 24 if sexual relations occurred, 21 if no sexual act was committed but the crime violated chapter 117 of Title 18 (§§ 2421-27), and 18 otherwise. Section 2423, the crime to which Mitchell pleaded guilty, is in chapter 117, so his base offense level is 21. Having received a 3-level reduction to account for the difference between an attempt and a completed offense, Mitchell should not receive an additional boon by an interpretation that restricts subsection (b)(2)(B) to completed offenses. That would be double counting. (Even with the undue-influence enhancement, Mitchell received a sentence of only 41 months. The district judge chose the bottom of the 41-51 month range. The statutory maximum is 15 years. On the majority’s view, his sentence must be selected from the range 33-41 months.)
Guideline § 2A3.2 follows the norm in the Sentencing Guidelines. Subsection (a) specifies a base offense level that establishes a difference between attempt and the completed offense. (Each guideline does this either directly, as in § 2A3.2, or indirectly through application of § 2X1.1.) Subsection (b) then lists aggravating and mitigating circumstances that adjust the *568base offense level in response to conduct showing that the defendant is more (or less) dangerous than the plain-vanilla offender who commits each element of the crime but does nothing else. A sexual predator who tries to overbear the youngster’s will is more dangerous than one who does not; a sexual predator more than 10 years older than the victim is more dangerous than one close to the victim’s age. Subsection (b)(2)(B) and the presumption in Application Note 4 reflect these things — which obtain, and thus justify a sentencing differential, whether or not the defendant succeeds. The Sentencing Commission concluded that failure was worth a three (or six) level discount; if it set out to create a five (or eight) level difference between success and failure, it picked an odd way to do so. Why not be more direct?
Suppose that Dena actually had been 14 years old, as she claimed, and that Mitchell had persuaded her to show up at the motel. Dena’s parents arrive, having found out from her computer where she had gone, and prevent Mitchell from having sexual relations with their daughter. Language, logic, and public policy all allow the application of the two-level undue-influence enhancement to such a situation. The police found condoms and a camera in Mitchell’s car; he admitted, after being arrested on his way to the arranged motel room, what he planned to do there with Dena. These preparations were no less real than the messages Mitchell sent over the net. Applying subsection (b)(2)(B) to Mitchell sentences him for what he actually did, and for the risks that such conduct creates, as sound sentencing policy should. On the majority’s view, by contrast, even if the victim is a 14-year-old girl rather than an agent, and even if the defendant undermines the voluntariness of the child’s decisions, no enhancement is proper unless sexual relations occur. Anything that thwarts success (intervention of parents, misunderstanding of the time or place for the rendezvous, a snowstorm) prevents the judge from recognizing the overbearing nature of the offender’s tactics or the significance of the difference in age.
At times, the majority suggests that the word “influence” even in the present tense implies success. In many contexts this is so; in others it is not. Consider a testator, the subject of pages 557-59 in the majority’s opinion: A senile person may be “unduly influenced” to make a new will, and the fact that someone snatches the pen from his hand before he can sign does not imply that no impropriety occurred. A lawyer who influenced the testator unduly could (and should) be disciplined even though a relative thwarted the scheme. To determine whether the Sentencing Commission uses the word “influenced” to denote success, we must see how it is employed throughout the Guidelines. It appears repeatedly in contexts showing that the Sentencing Commission understands “influence” to refer to the accused’s conduct independent of the effect on the object. Take the bribery guidelines beginning with U.S.S.G. § 2C1.1. Background Notes to each of these describe the offense as an effort “to influence ... official action”, a crime that can be committed without actually altering the official’s conduct. A person who pays off an official in order to influence that official’s action is culpable whether or not the official alters his conduct as a result. Likewise it obstructs justice to wield influence over a juror or witness, see U.S.S.G. § 2J1.2 Background Note, even if the attempt fails; and efforts to influence governmental action lead to enhancements under U.S.S.G. §§ 2Q1.4(b)(4) and 2Q1.5(c)(l) even if the official does his duty honestly. Many other uses of the word “influence” in the Guidelines are to the same effect.
*569This is a simple case. Application Note 1 defines “victim” to include an agent posing as an underage child. Under the banner of giving “influenced” a plain meaning, the majority declines to apply this definition. I would follow all of the text promulgated by the Sentencing Commission.