United States v. Albright

38 F. App'x 700
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 28, 2002
DocketNos. 01-3035, 01-3036, 01-3037
StatusPublished

This text of 38 F. App'x 700 (United States v. Albright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Albright, 38 F. App'x 700 (3d Cir. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

FUENTES, Circuit Judge.

In this consolidated appeal, the three co-defendants challenge aspects of their sentencing. After carefully considering the appellants’ arguments, we conclude that they all lack merit. We will affirm the judgment of the District Court in each case. The defendants pled guilty to criminal charges arising from participation in a conspiracy to steal cash, stock certificates, bond certificates, certificates of deposit, jewelry, and other property from a safe in a Mereersburg, Pennsylvania apartment owned by Frank M. Linninger. Linninger rented the apartment to a co-conspirator, Jeremiah Chambers, and his girlfriend. In March 2000, Chambers stole some cash from the safe, and used the money to buy a car in West Virginia. Chambers told Appellant, Bruce Albright, Chambers’s cousin, about the valuable property remaining in the safe. Later that month, Chambers arranged to leave the apartment door unlocked. Albright and three other defendants traveled from West Virginia, entered the apartment, and pushed the safe into their car. Because the heavy safe made driving difficult, they left the safe in a deserted area and drove to the residence of Appellant, John Anthony Bigiarelli, Jr., in West Virginia. Bigiarelli took his truck with three others to retrieve the safe and bring it back to his house. Appellant, Mark Ortega, agreed to use his tools to help cut open the safe. After the contents were removed, other co-conspirators later dumped the safe in a field. Bigiarelli and several other co-conspirators were paid money from the safe for their efforts, and Albright and his three principal co-conspirators split the bulk of the safe’s contents.

Albright voluntarily surrendered to the Pennsylvania State Police and gave a statement concerning his role in the theft and the actions of others, including the fact that Chambers used some money from the safe to purchase a car. Ortega and Bigiar-elli also gave statements to the police following their arrests.

On November 8, 2000, the three appellants and four others were indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 and 2, and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314. Three co-conspirators pled guilty and have not appealed their sentence. The indictment against Chambers was dismissed because the Government failed to amass sufficient evidence against him. Under plea agreements, Albright and Ortega each pled guilty to the conspiracy count, and Bigiarelli pled guilty to the interstate transportation count.

The District Court had jurisdiction over these criminal matters under 18 U.S.C. [702]*702§ 3231, and we have jurisdiction over the final orders of conviction and sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We exercise plenary review over the District Court’s legal interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines. United States v. Torres, 251 F.3d 138, 145 (3d Cir.2001). However, if the District Court did not make a mistake of law, we lack jurisdiction to review the court’s exercise of discretion to deny a downward departure. Id. We address the arguments of each appellant in turn.

I. Albright

Prior to Albright’s sentencing, the Government filed a motion for a downward departure under U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 based on Albright’s substantial assistance to the Government. The Government recommended a two month departure. On July 18, 2001, the District Court rejected the Government’s request and held that “the nature and significance of the cooperation was [not] that great that it should warrant a downward departure.” App. at 73. Al-bright was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and two years supervised release, and was ordered to pay $212,000 in joint and several restitution with the other defendants.

Albright argues that the District Court erred in its application of § 5K1.1 by adopting a per se rule that a defendant had to offer information of “major significance” to qualify for a departure, and by confusing “substantial assistance” under § 5K.1.1 with the “acceptance of responsibility” standard under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. He also argues that the court misinterpreted our decision in Torres, in which we explained the requirements for a sentencing court in considering a departure under § 5K1.1.

In Torres, we “urge[d] sentencing judges to make specific findings regarding each factor” enumerated under § 5K1.11 and required an “individualized determination” of the defendant’s substantial assistance, but we did not limit a court’s discretion to assign different weights to each of the factors and balance them accordingly. See Torres, 251 F.3d at 148. We have reviewed the transcript of Albright’s sentencing, and we conclude that the court properly considered each of the relevant factors and determined, in its discretion, that Albright’s assistance was not of sufficient significance to warrant any departure. The court did not rule as a matter of law that the lack of “major significance” of a defendant’s information automatically disqualifies a- defendant from receiving a downward departure. The court instead focused on the particular facts of Al-bright’s case, particularly the other sentencing adjustments granted to Albright and the nature of Albright’s cooperation.

Further, the court followed the suggestion of § 5Kl.l’s application notes by considering substantial assistance independently from acceptance of responsibility, and by requiring more than mere acceptance of responsibility to justify a departure under § 5K1.1. See U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1, cmt. n. 2. The court therefore did not confuse the two inquiries. The court did not err in its legal interpretation of the Guidelines. We have no jurisdiction to review the court’s exercise of discretion to deny the downward departure. Therefore, we will affirm the judgment of sentence for Albright.

II. Bigiarelli

Bigiarelli raises a similar challenge to the District Court’s denial of a downward departure under § 5K1.1. As in Albright’s case, the Government filed a motion rec[703]*703ommending a downward departure for substantial assistance, and the court denied the motion at Bigiarelli’s sentencing on July 18, 2001. Bigiarelli was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment and 2 years supervised release, and was fined $212,000 in joint and several restitution with the other defendants.

Bigiarelli argues that his case should be remanded because the District Court might have been under the “mistaken impression” that it did not have the legal authority to grant the downward departure. He contends that the court might have thought that analysis of the five § 5K1.1 factors were prerequisites to the exercise of its departure authority, rather than simply considerations in the exercise of its discretion. This argument lacks merit.

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38 F. App'x 700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-albright-ca3-2002.