United States of America, Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. Benjamin Gary Triestman, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee

178 F.3d 624, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 11189
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJune 2, 1999
DocketDocket 98-1021(L), 98-1221(XAP)
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 178 F.3d 624 (United States of America, Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. Benjamin Gary Triestman, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States of America, Appellee-Cross-Appellant v. Benjamin Gary Triestman, Defendant-Appellant-Cross-Appellee, 178 F.3d 624, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 11189 (2d Cir. 1999).

Opinion

SOTOMAYOR, Circuit Judge:

In a recent decision, this court resolved the “important issue” of “whether a district court has jurisdiction to resentence a defendant on an underlying, unchallenged drug trafficking conviction where, pursuant to Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137, 116 S.Ct. 501, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995), the defendant has successfully challenged a related firearm conviction in a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition.” United States v. Gor-dils, 117 F.3d 99, 100 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 118 S.Ct. 430, 139 L.Ed.2d 330 (1997). In this case, we address the related issue of whether such a resentencing is permissible where the defendant has made an identical successful challenge, but in a 28 U.S.C. § 2241 petition. We conclude here, as in Gordils, that this resentencing is permissible both under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c) — which limits the circumstances under which courts can modify terms of imprisonment once imposed — and under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States Constitution. We also find that the district court acted within its discretion by resentencing defendant-appellant Triestman without an updated presentence investigation report, and that Triestman has waived his present request for a new hearing as to whether his original guilty plea was coerced. We therefore affirm the district court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

On October 5, 1992, pursuant to an agreement entered into with the government, Triestman pled guilty to the following three counts of an eleven-count indictment: (1) conspiring to manufacture and distribute thirty-five pounds of 4-methy-lenedioxymethamphetamine (“MDMA” or “Eestacy”), in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846; (2) employing a minor, Anya Sheckley, in the manufacture and distribution of MDMA, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 861; and (3) using or carrying a firearm in connection with these drug-related convictions, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).

At sentencing, the district court (Ga-gliardi, /.) grouped Triestman’s two drug conspiracy counts and calculated his combined offense level to be 29 under §§ 2D1.1, 2D1.2(a)(2) of the Guidelines. The court adjusted this level downward by 3 points based on Triestman’s acceptance of responsibility, under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. Ordinarily, the court would have been required to increase Treistman’s offense level by 2 points for his possession of a firearm. See U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(b)(l). Because Triestman was also being sentenced for a § 924(c) violation, however, the court was precluded from doing so. See U.S.S.G. § 2K2.4, Application Note 2 (prohibiting the ordinary 2-level enhancement for possession of a firearm when defendant is separately convicted of using or carrying firearm in violation of § 924(c)). The court thus assigned Triestman a total offense level of 26 for his drug convictions, which resulted in a Guideline range of 63 to 78 months, and sentenced him to consecutive terms of 63 months, for his drug convictions, and 60 months, for violating § 924(c).

Triestman appealed his conviction, and this court summarily affirmed in United States v. Triestman, 996 F.2d 302 (2d Cir. 1993) (Table). On May 9, 1994, Triestman filed a pro se petition seeking collateral relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. The district court denied the motion, and this court summarily affirmed. See Triestman v. United States, 60 F.3d 812 (2d Cir.1995) (Table). In both proceedings, Triestman claimed that his possession of a pistol to protect himself in connection with his drug manufacturing did not constitute “use” under § 924(c).

*627 Soon thereafter, the Supreme Court decided Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137, 116 S.Ct. 501, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995), and held that a defendant cannot be convicted of “using” a firearm under § 924(c) unless he “actively] employ[s]” the weapon, such as by “brandishing, displaying, bartering, striking with [or] most obviously, firing or attempting to fire [it].” Id. at 143, 148, 116 S.Ct. 501. The Court thereby overruled the broader test for “use” that this court had relied on in rejecting both Triestman’s direct appeal and his § 2255 petition. See, e.g., United States v. Feliz-Cordero, 859 F.2d 250, 254 (2d Cir. 1988) (holding, pre-Bailey, that defendants could be found guilty of “using” a firearm under § 924(c) whenever “the circumstances surrounding the presence of a firearm in a place where drug transactions take place suggest that it was strategically located so as to be quickly and easily available for use during such a transaction”).

On May 3, 1996, Triestman filed another § 2255 petition in the district court challenging his § 924(c) conviction in light of Bailey. Triestman subsequently moved this Court to certify that this successive § 2255 petition was permissible. We denied the motion, however, because Triest-man’s argument relied neither on newly discovered evidence nor on a new rule of constitutional law, as is required for certification of a successive § 2255 petition. 1 See Triestman v. United States, 124 F.3d 361 (2d Cir.1997).

In our decision, we nevertheless noted that before the procedural bars against successive § 2255 petitions were codified by the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”), Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (1996), a petitioner was entitled to bring a successive § 2255 petition in light of an intervening change in substantive non-constitutional law, so long as the change applied retroactively and the petition alleged actual innocence in light of this change. See Triestman, 124 F.3d at 367-71. We also noted that serious due process and Eighth Amendment questions might arise if § 2255 were the only means available for Triestman to attack his sentence. We therefore held that Triestman could pursue his Bailey challenge pursuant to a § 2241 petition in these highly unusual circumstances. Id. at 380.

Triestman subsequently brought a § 2241 petition in the district court (Scul-lin, J.) to challenge his § 924(c) conviction.

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Bluebook (online)
178 F.3d 624, 1999 U.S. App. LEXIS 11189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-of-america-appellee-cross-appellant-v-benjamin-gary-ca2-1999.