United States v. Alphonzo Leon Johnson

205 F.3d 1197, 2000 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1852, 2000 Daily Journal DAR 2561, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 3491, 2000 WL 253684
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMarch 8, 2000
Docket98-30346
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 205 F.3d 1197 (United States v. Alphonzo Leon Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Alphonzo Leon Johnson, 205 F.3d 1197, 2000 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1852, 2000 Daily Journal DAR 2561, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 3491, 2000 WL 253684 (9th Cir. 2000).

Opinion

LEAVY, Circuit Judge:

Alphonzo Leon Johnson appeals his sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g) and 924(a)(2). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We conclude that the district court erred when it included two juvenile sentences in calculating Johnson’s criminal history category, because Johnson was not confined on the juvenile sentences within five years of the commencement of his federal offense. We vacate Johnson’s sentence and remand for resentencing.

BACKGROUND

Johnson entered a plea of guilty to the indictment charging him with being a felon in possession of a firearm committed on December 17, 1997. The central issue at Johnson’s sentencing hearing was whether his prior juvenile adjudications should be counted for purposes of calculating his criminal history. The Sentencing Guidelines provide that, when calculating a defendant’s criminal history, a “juvenile sentence imposed for an offense committed prior to the defendant’s eighteenth birthday is counted only if confinement resulting from such sentence extended into the five-year period preceding the defendant’s commencement of the instant offense.” U.S.S.G. §§ 4A1.1 Comment 2 & 4A1.2(d)(2)(A) (1997) (emphasis added). Johnson contended that his juvenile sentences should not be counted because he was released from confinement on those convictions in September of 1992 — more *1199 than five years prior to committing the instant offense. While Johnson was detained by law enforcement officials on more than one occasion in 1993, he argued that, because his parole was not revoked and he was not resentenced in connection with these detentions, those confinements did not “result from” his juvenile convictions.

Johnson’s prior juvenile adjudications included a June 1, 1990, five-year sentence to juvenile confinement for the Oregon state crimes of menacing and recklessly endangering, and a June 1, 1992, sentence to a juvenile facility until age 21 for the delivery of a controlled substance. Johnson was confined at MacLaran School on the first sentence beginning June 1, 1990. He was released three times on parole, and reconfined when his parole was revoked until his final parole from MacLaran School on September 8, 1992 (this was shortly after his June 1, 1992, sentence for the delivery of a controlled substance). His juvenile case was “terminated” on March 16,1994.

Johnson’s sentencing hearing focused on what occurred when Johnson was detained in 1993, after his 1992 release on parole. The presentence report indicated that his parole was revoked when he was detained in 1993. The federal probation officer who prepared the presentence report testified at the sentencing hearing that she relied on a computer printout of Johnson’s juvenile case history and conversations with Johnson’s juvenile probation officer when she prepared the report. She had no other sources of information concerning the detentions.

The computer printout used by the federal probation officer shows that Johnson was detained three times in 1993, within the five years proceeding his federal offense, but does not indicate that his parole was revoked in 1993, as it does when his parole was revoked in 1992. The juvenile probation officer testified that Johnson’s parole was not formally revoked and he was not sentenced to confinement during the 1993 detentions. Johnson testified that, while he had some conversations with his parole office during his 1993 detentions, he did not have a hearing, his parole was never revoked, and he was never sent back to MacLaran School. Supplemental information gathered by a staff investigator at the Federal Public Defenders office and made part of the record showed that, during Johnson’s 1993 detentions, he was not transported to a juvenile detention facility for a parole revocation hearing.

Following the sentencing hearing, the district court concluded that there were “periods of time in 1992 and 1993 when the defendant was returned to confinement as a result of the [juvenile] charges and then released within five years of the instant offense.” As a consequence, the district court included the two juvenile sentences described above in Johnson’s criminal history, which resulted in a criminal history category of VI and a sentencing guideline range of 51 — 63 months. The district court imposed a sentence of 60 months. Johnson timely appealed his sentence.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

“Interpretation and application of federal sentencing guidelines present questions of law reviewed de novo.” United States v. Castillo, 181 F.3d 1129, 1134-35 (9th Cir.1999).

ANALYSIS

Johnson contends that the district court erred by adding four criminal history points pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(d)(2)(A), to account for the two prior juvenile convictions. Section 4A1.2(d) provides in relevant part:

(d) Offenses Committed Prior to Age Eighteen.
(2) In any other case,
(A) add 2 points under § 4Al.l(b) for each adult or juvenile sentence to confinement of at least sixty days if the defendant was *1200 released from such confinement within five years of his commencement of the instant offense.

U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(d)(2)(A) (1997).

U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(k) governs the effect of a parole revocation when computing criminal history points. It provides in relevant part:

Revocation of probation, parole, supervised release, special parole, or mandatory release may affect the time period under which certain sentences are counted as provided in § 4A1.1(d)(2) and (e). For the purposes of determining the applicable time period, use the following: ... (ii) in the case of any other confinement sentence for an offense committed prior to the defendant’s eighteenth birthday, the date of the defendant’s last release from confinement on such sentence (see § 4A1.2(d)(2)(A)) ...

U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(k)(2)(B) (1997).

If Johnson’s parole was revoked when he was detained in 1993, § 4A1.2(k)(2)(B) would apply and his juvenile sentences would be counted under § 4A1.2(d)(2)(A). However, on this record, the district court could not conclude that Johnson’s parole was revoked during any of the 1993 detentions. Thus, § 4A1.2(k)(2)(B) is inapplicable.

The government argues that, even if Johnson’s parole was not revoked in 1993, he was still “confined” as that term is used on § 4A1.2(d)(2)(A). When interpreting the sentencing guidelines, we have carefully distinguished between confinement resulting from an adjudication of guilt and confinement for other reasons. For example, in United States v. Latimer, 991 F.2d 1509

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Bluebook (online)
205 F.3d 1197, 2000 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1852, 2000 Daily Journal DAR 2561, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 3491, 2000 WL 253684, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-alphonzo-leon-johnson-ca9-2000.