Court Opinion

ID: 9480402
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:47:04.510019+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:40.161121
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Blackman gave the police a false name when arrested. The authorities knew Blackman’s identity and the various aliases he used at the time of his arrest. The majority today holds that Blackman’s use of an alias at the time of his arrest, conduct which had no material effect on any investigation or proceeding, mandates the enhancement of Black-man’s offense level by two levels, or an increase in sentence of more than five years if Blackman were sentenced at midrange. This holding interprets section 3C1.1 too broadly, undermines the guidelines’ goal of proportionality in sentencing, and unjustifiably increases Blackman’s sentence.
The criminal offense of obstruction of justice traditionally applied only to post-offense conduct occurring during the penden-cy of formal judicial proceedings. See, e.g., Ferina v. United States, 302 F.2d 95, 102 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 371 U.S. 819, 83 S.Ct. 35, 9 L.Ed.2d 59 (1962). Although this court has noted that the Sentencing Commission intended section 3C1.1 also to encompass obstructive acts committed during the investigation of an offense, United States v. Werlinger, 894 F.2d 1015, 1016 (8th Cir.1990), the commentary to section 3C1.1 provides examples of conduct meriting the obstruction adjustment which primarily retain the traditional focus on post-offense activity calculated to obstruct judicial proceedings, see U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 commentary, application note l(aHe).1 While the list is not exclusive, the examples provided indicate that the Sentencing Commission intended to punish only material falsehoods.2 Moreover, the examples given are sufficiently specific to suggest that the Commission considered a variety of obstructive acts occurring in actual prosecutions while compiling the list. I find it hard to believe that the Commission intended to include but failed to mention the use of an alias on arrest, a deception that likely occurs more frequently than do the listed examples. The majority’s extension of section 3C1.1 to encompass Blackman’s futile attempt to conceal his identity to avoid apprehension during the commission of a crime stretches the meaning of the phrase “willfully obstructing or impeding proceedings” beyond its reasonable limits.
The commentary to section 3C1.1 provides further support for the notion that the Sentencing Commission intended the obstruction adjustment to apply primarily to acts calculated to interfere with judicial proceedings. Application note 4 states that where the defendant is convicted of an offense covered by the guidelines pertaining to contempt, obstruction of justice, perjury, bribery of witness, or payment to witness, the adjustment in section 3C1.1 is not to be applied. U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 com*1261mentary, application note 4. The Commission thus sought to avoid double-counting conduct obstructive of judicial proceedings in applying the obstruction adjustment.
The majority notes that section 3C1.1, interpreted broadly, encompasses wholly ineffectual attempts to obstruct justice. This expansive reading, however, conflicts with the basic tenet of statutory interpretation requiring courts to construe penal statutes narrowly. See Dowling v. United States, 473 U.S. 207, 215-16, 105 S.Ct. 3127, 3132, 87 L.Ed.2d 152, 159 (1985); Williams v. United States, 458 U.S. 279, 290, 102 S.Ct. 3088, 3094, 73 L.Ed.2d 767 (1982). Additionally, the majority’s reasoning ignores the principle of proportionality and section 3Cl.l’s necessary concern with the potential for harm created by a defendant’s obstruction of justice. See generally U.S.S.G. ch. 1, pt. A, policy statement (The Basic Approach); cf. United States v. Baker, 894 F.2d 1083, 1084 (9th Cir.1990) (defendant’s lies to probation officer had potential for obstructing justice and were therefore material under section 3C1.1 although court eventually discovered true extent of defendant’s criminal record). The majority treats Blackman in the same manner as it would a defendant who threatens injury to a witness. This result is contrary to the purposes of the guidelines and lacks penological justification.
The majority approves an increase in Blackman’s offense level equivalent to those received in United States v. Patterson, 890 F.2d 69 (8th Cir.1989), and United States v. Brett, 872 F.2d 1365 (8th Cir.1989). In Patterson and Brett, the defendants’ obstructive efforts had both greater potential for harm to the administration of justice and greater actual obstructive effect than did Blackman’s. I would have dissented from the results in Patterson and Brett had I been on those panels, because I believe that the conduct of the defendants in those cases, albeit more egregious than Blackman’s, did not merit a possible increase in their sentences of twenty-five percent. A comparison of the facts of those cases with Blackman’s conduct nonetheless illustrates the disparity in sentencing that the majority’s holding promotes.
In Patterson, the defendant gave a false name on arrest and at a post-arrest FBI interview. 890 F.2d at 70-71. He also gave the FBI agent a false date and place of birth and refused to give his name to the magistrate. Id. at 71. The FBI had to obtain the defendant’s motel phone records and perform a fingerprint comparison before confirming the defendant’s actual identity. Id. In Brett, the defendant gave a false name on arrest and did not admit his true identity to authorities until twenty-six days later. 872 F.2d at 1368. The district court found that Brett’s delay in correctly identifying himself cost the government time, manpower, and money. Id. at 1372-73. Thus, each of these defendants’ use of a false name, unlike Black-man’s, had some potential to actually hinder the administration of justice.
The obstruction adjustment to Black-man’s offense level increased his sentencing range from 235-293 months to 292-365 months. In Brett and Patterson, the defendants’ sentencing ranges increased from 97-121 months to 121-151 months and from 46-57 months to 57-71 months, respectively. Blackman’s futile attempt to conceal his identity thus earned him a twenty-four percent increase in his sentencing range, while the defendants in Brett and Patterson received twenty-three and twenty-five percent increases. Because of Blackman’s higher base offense level, his increase amounts to substantially more real time than was received in Brett and Patterson, cases in which the defendants’ attempted obstruction actually hindered their prosecution.
Although such disparities are to some extent inevitable under the guidelines, extending section 3C1.1 to conduct as innocuous as Blackman’s futile attempt to avoid apprehension increases the risk that the obstruction adjustment will be used to punish widely varying levels of evasive conduct with sentences of undifferentiated severity. Moreover, by applying section 3C1.1 to conduct engaged in during the commission of a crime to avoid apprehension, the majority creates the possibility that any affirmative step taken by a defendant to avoid detection could qualify for a two-level increase for obstruction of justice. Thus, conduct such as concealing one’s identity from *1262one’s victim during the commission of a crime or fleeing the scene of the crime arguably could merit the same two-level adjustment as committing perjury or threatening a witness, because all such acts ultimately are “calculated to mislead or deceive authorities.” See U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 commentary.
I do not believe Congress or the Sentencing Commission intended section 3C1.1 to sweep so broadly or to promote such inconsistency. A five-year adjustment to Black-man’s sentence constitutes five years of real time under the guidelines and is the equivalent of a twelve-year pre-guidelines sentence. One of the Sentencing Commission’s goals in establishing the guideline ranges was to approximate the average sentences being served for various categories of offenses under pre-guidelines practice. U.S.S.G. ch. 1, pt. A, policy statement (The Guidelines’ Resolution of Major Issues). I question whether the Commission heard evidence that pre-guidelines courts were imposing five-year real time sentences for the use of aliases on arrest. I would vacate Blackman’s sentence and remand the case for resentencing at a base offense level of 36, Blackman’s sentencing level without the enhancement for obstruction of justice.

. Application note 1 states:
1. The following conduct, while not exclusive, may provide a basis for applying this adjustment:
(a) destroying or concealing material evidence, or attempting to do so;
(b) directing or procuring another person to destroy or conceal material evidence, or attempting to do so;
(c) testifying untruthfully or suborning untruthful testimony concerning a material fact, or producing or attempting to produce an altered, forged, or counterfeit document or record during a preliminary or grand jury proceeding, trial, sentencing proceeding, or any other judicial proceeding;
(d) threatening, intimidating, or otherwise unlawfully attempting to influence a code-fendant, witness, or juror, directly or indirectly;
(e) furnishing material falsehoods to a probation officer in the course of a presentence or other investigation for the court.
U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 commentary, application note 1 (emphasis added).

. The majority notes that the identification of the defendant is clearly a material fact. When the authorities know a suspect’s identity and all his aliases before arresting him, however, any attempt by the suspect to conceal that identity is immaterial for purposes of obstructing or impeding the proceedings against him.