Court Opinion

ID: 9476324
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:52:53.481399+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:14.116564
License: Public Domain

*133JON O. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
Fiore violated three statutes. He committed mail fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 (1982). He committed arson in the course of a federal felony (mail fraud), in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(h)(1) (1982). He committed arson by burning a building used in interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(9 (1982 & Supp. III 1985). The majority decides, needlessly in my view, that Congress has authorized consecutive punishments for arson and for arson in the course of a federal felony. As evidence, the majority cites remarks made in support of the 1982 amendment to section 844(i), which broadened the coverage of this provision to punish not only destruction of a building by means of an explosive device but also destruction by means of fire. That legislative history gives no indication that Congress contemplated consecutive punishments for a single fire that destroys a building in interstate commerce (section 844(i)) and also advances some other federal felony (section 844(h)(1)). All it shows is that Congress wanted to make sure that those who destroyed buildings in interstate commerce by means other than explosive devices would not “escape Federal prosecutions and convictions.” 128 Cong.Rec. S11,985 (daily ed. Sept. 22, 1982) (Remarks of Senator Glenn). Fiore does not contend that he is immune from federal prosecution or conviction. His point is that he cannot receive cumulative punishments for one fire that violates both sections 844(h)(1) and 844(i).
Whether or not he is right, he has no valid complaint about the sentence he received. Fiore was sentenced to eighteen months concurrently on each of six mail fraud counts. He received a consecutive one-year sentence for committing arson in the course of the mail fraud. The legislative history of the arson-felony statute makes clear that it provides for a penalty in addition to the penalty for the underlying felony. The report of the House Judiciary Committee states that the 1982 amendment to section 844(h)(1) would
provide that whoever uses a fire, as well as an explosive to commit any felony which may be prosecuted in a court of the United States commits an additional offense and shall be subject to a sentence in addition to the sentence for the predicate offense.
H.R.Rep. No. 678, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 3, reprinted in 1982 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 2631, 2633. This clear statement of legislative intent leaves no doubt that the one-year term for violating section 844(h)(1) was properly added to the concurrent eighteen-month terms for violating section 1341. See United States v. Morale, 695 F.2d 658, 662 (2d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1041, 103 S.Ct. 1434, 75 L.Ed.2d 793 (1983). Once these validly cumulated sentences totaled thirty months, Fiore received no additional punishment when eighteen-month sentences were imposed on the section 844(i) counts to run concurrently with each other and concurrently with the eighteen-month concurrent sentences on the mail fraud counts.
I would reject Fiore’s challenge to the sentence solely for these reasons. In all other respects, I concur in the Court’s opinion.