Court Opinion

ID: 9496398
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:25:38.941744+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:33.333717
License: Public Domain

BOWMAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The opinion of the Court mistakenly concludes that the District Court erred in finding that Wal-terman qualified for the career-offender enhancement pursuant to § 4B1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G.) (2001). Because the District Court did not err in making this determination, I would affirm Walterman’s sentence.
Walterman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture five grams or more of methamphetamine. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1) (200Ó). At his arraignment, the government notified Wal-terman of its intent to seek an enhancement of his sentence based on his two prior drug-felony convictions. Those two felony convictions arose from violations of Iowa Code § 124.401-4 (2001), which prohibits the possession of a precursor (including lithium) with intent to manufacture a controlled substance. According to the presentence report (PSR), Walterman was arrested on July 15, 1999, for possession of lithium with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. PSR ¶ 55. The following year, on March 24, 2000, Walter-man was once again arrested for violating this same law for possessing a product containing ephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Id. ¶ 58; Brief for Appellant at 4-5.5 Walterman was convicted of both these offenses. Based on these two prior felony convictions, the District Court applied the career-offender enhancement pursuant to § 4B1.1 and increased Walterman’s criminal history to category VI, and, with an offense level of 34, sentenced Walterman to 262 months of imprisonment.
Under § 4B1.1, Walterman is a career offender if (1) he was at least eighteen years of age at the time he committed the instant federal offense, (2) the instant federal offense is a felony that is a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense, and (3) he has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense. Here, the Court concludes that Walterman’s felony conviction in 1999 for possession of lithium with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine is not a “controlled substance offense” for purposes of § 4B1.1. Specifically, the Court argues that this felony conviction “does not fall under either category of controlled substance offenses defined in Guideline § 4B1.2(b).” Ante at 940. In my view, the Court misreads § 4B1.2(b).
Section 4B 1.2(b) provides two ways for prior felony offenses to qualify for the career-offender enhancement under § 4B1.1:
*944The term “controlled substance offense” means an offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that prohibits the manufacture, import, export, distribution, or dispensing of a controlled substance (or a counterfeit substance) or the possession of a controlled substance (or counterfeit substance) with intent to manufacture, import, export, distribute, or dispense.
§ 4B.1.2(b) (emphasis added).
Walterman’s conviction for possessing lithium with intent to manufacture fits squarely within the first part of § 4B1.2(b)’s definition of a controlled substance offense because it is “an offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that prohibits the manufacture ... of a controlled substance.” U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(b) (emphasis added). Walterman concedes that § 124.401-4 of the Iowa Code makes it a class “D” felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year, to possess lithium with the intent to use that chemical to manufacture any controlled substance. This Iowa statute fits the definition of a “controlled substance offense” because it prohibits the manufacture of a controlled substance— methamphetamine — by prohibiting the possession of its precursors with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Contrary to the opinion of the Court, nowhere in the first part of § 4B1.2(b)’s definition of a controlled substance offense does it state that the defendant must actually possess “a controlled substance.” Rather, that part of the provision only requires that the offense be a violation of “federal or state law ... that prohibits the manufacture ... of a controlled substance.” The opinion of the Court conflates the second part of § 4B1.2(b)’s definition of a controlled substance offense, which may require that the defendant actually possess “a controlled substance,” with the first part of § 4B1.2(b)’s definition, which has no such requirement. I have no doubt that Walterman’s conviction for possession of lithium with intent to manufacture methamphetamine (stemming from his 1999 arrest) is a controlled-substance offense within the definition of § 4B.1.1.
According to the opinion of the Court, Walterman’s 1999 conviction for possession of lithium with intent to manufacture methamphetamine was only a “possessory” offense and not a “manufacturing” offense. Ante at n. 2. I fail to see the relevance of this distinction. First, there is no reason to conclude that because Walterman’s 1999 offense was for possession of lithium with intent to manufacture methamphetamine that such a “possessory” offense cannot, by definition, also be a “manufacturing” offense. After all, Walterman was convicted for possession with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Second, the opinion of the Court compounds its error by again conflating the two parts of § 4B1.2(b) by reading into the first part of § 4B1.2(b) a requirement that Walterman actually possess “a controlled substance.” As noted, the first part of § 4B1.2(b) only requires that Walterman manufacture a controlled substance. Walterman’s 1999 conviction fits that requirement.
I also note the Government makes a compelling argument that application note 1 of § 4B1.2 further supports the propriety of the District Court’s imposition of the career-offender enhancement. Specifically, the comment to note 1, which adds to the list of prior offenses that qualify for career-offender status and which states “[u]nlawfully possessing a prohibited flask or equipment with intent to manufacture a controlled substance (21 U.S.C. § 843(a)(6)) is a ‘controlled substance offense,’ ” would seem to bring Walterman’s state felony conviction for possession of lithium with intent to manufacture meth*945amphetamine within § 4B1.2 s ambit. See § 4B1.2, cmt. n. 1. I agree with the Government that the reference in that application note to § 843(a)(6) is a shorthand reference, which incorporates all of the prohibitions in § 843(a)(6), including the possession of “any ... chemical, product or material which may be used to manufacture a controlled substance.” 21 U.S.C. § 843(a)(6) (emphasis added). Here, this comment justifies the District Court’s imposition of the career-offender enhancement because Walterman possessed a chemical (lithium) with intent to manufacture a controlled substance (methamphetamine).
The Court contends that “[i]f the Sentencing Commission sought to include all of these matters as qualifying controlled substance offenses, the related commentary would not have limited itself by only mentioning flasks and equipment.” Ante at 942. This argument is suspect for several reasons. First, the Court’s view leads to the incongruous result that possession of flasks and equipment with intent to manufacture is a controlled substance offense, while possession of any other product, chemical or material with a similar intent would not be a controlled substance offense. Why would Congress want to punish possession of flasks or equipment more harshly than other materials listed in 21 U.S.C. § 843(a)(6)? Second, application note 1 to § 4B1.2 enumerates examples, not an exclusive list, of crimes constituting controlled substance offenses. For example, one of the other comments in application note 1 to § 4B1.2 states that “[maintaining any place for the purpose of facilitating a drug offense (21 U.S.C. § 856) is a ‘controlled substance offense.’ ” § 4B1.2 cmt. n. 1. That comment references 21 U.S.C. § 856(a), which prohibits knowingly maintaining or opening any place for the purpose of manufacturing a controlled substance. See 21 U.S.C. § 856(a)(1). While that comment to § 4B1.2 does not mention, as the statute does, opening a place for purposes of manufacturing a controlled substance, it seems implausible that such conduct would not constitute a controlled substance offense. Again, I highly doubt that Congress or the Sentencing Commission intended only to punish the maintaining, not opening, of a place for purposes of manufacturing a controlled substance. Yet, the Court’s interpretation of application note 1 would lead to this absurd result.
Accordingly, for the reasons stated, I dissent.

. The PSR states that this second state-law drug offense was for possession of lithium with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. PSR ¶ 58. But, in his brief and during oral argument before this Court, Waiter-man states that the charge was actually for possession of a product containing ephedrine with the intent to manufacture. Brief for Appellant at 5. Walterman only appeals the finding of the District Court that his conviction for possession of lithium with intent to manufacture methamphetamine (the 1999 charge) is a controlled-substance offense within the meaning of § 4B1.1. He does not contest that his conviction in 2000 for possession of a product containing ephedrine with intent to manufacture was a controlled-substance offense within the meaning of § 4B1.1.