Court Opinion

ID: 9483171
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:13:24.633097+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:28.296063
License: Public Domain

SILER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with the majority opinion, except for Part II.B.1., from which I dissent. In that section, the majority opinion holds that the District Court engaged in double counting under the Sentencing Guidelines by enhancing the defendant's sentence pursuant to § 2F1.1(b)(2), the fraud and deceit provision, for engaging in more than minimal planning, when it also enhanced the sentence under § 3B1.1(a), for being an organizer or leader of the criminal activity involving five or more participants. It is correct that in United States v. Werlinger, 894 F.2d 1015, 1017 (8th Cir.1990), the court held that where a bank employee was given an enhanced penalty for more than minimal planning under Guidelines § 2B1.1(b)(4), then his sentence should not have been further enhanced for wilfully obstructing or impeding the proceedings under § 3C1.1 for conduct undertaken while committing the crime of embezzlement.
Nevertheless, I would follow the decision in United States v. Curtis, 934 F.2d 553 (4th Cir.1991), which distinguished Wer-linger. That case is much closer factually to the case at bar, although it involved theft under § 2B1.1. However, that section, under subsection (5), provides for an enhancement if the offense involved more than minimal planning, similar to the enhancement under § 2F1.1(b)(2). As the court held in Curtis: “The Sentencing Guidelines are explicit when double counting is forbidden.” Id. at 556. As Application Note 4 to Part B of the Guidelines states: “The offense level adjustments from more than one specific offense characteristic within an offense guideline are cumulative (added together) unless the guideline specifies that only the greater (or greatest) is to be used.” That language indicates that the Sentencing Commission will specifically state when such characteristics are not to be cumulative.
Moreover, the enhancement under § 2F1.1(b)(2) is one which increases the base offense level for the crime itself, whereas § 3B1.1 provides an aggravating role enhancement because the defendant was the organizer or leader of a criminal activity with several participants. Certainly, Application Note 3 to § 3B1.1 states that the court should consider “the degree of participation in planning or organizing the offense.” However, that is not the only factor which the court is to consider, as it also should consider “the exercise of decision making authority, the nature of participation in the commission of the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a larger share of the fruits of the crime, ... the nature and scope of the illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority exercised over others.” Id. Although § 2F1.1(b)(2) enhances the offense when it involves more than minimal planning, the language in Application Note 3 to § 3B1.1 suggests an enhancement based upon the “degree of participation in planning or organizing the offense.” That means that if the crime has its base offense level increased for more than minimal planning it should be enhanced again if the defendant is the one who organized or led the planning of the offense. In addition, as *169in Curtis, several of the other factors outlined in Application Note 3 were present here. For instance, the defendant apparently recruited most of his workers, received much of the money from the criminal activity and exercised extensive control and authority over the other participants in the fraudulent activity. Therefore, I would AFFIRM the judgment of the district court in all respects.