United States v. Blaine Travis Fifield

432 F.3d 1056, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 29011, 2005 WL 3556912
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 30, 2005
Docket04-30299
StatusPublished
Cited by85 cases

This text of 432 F.3d 1056 (United States v. Blaine Travis Fifield) 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. Blaine Travis Fifield, 432 F.3d 1056, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 29011, 2005 WL 3556912 (9th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

BERZON, Circuit Judge.

Blaine Fifield pleaded guilty to one count of felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and one count of unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3). The district court sentenced him to fifty-four months imprisonment on each count. The court ordered that these sentences run concurrently with each other but consecutively to two sentences imposed previously by a Montana state court.

On appeal, Fifield presents three questions relating to the district court’s decision to make the federal sentences run consecutively to the state sentences. First, he argues that under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32, he was entitled to specific notice that the district court was considering ordering the sentences to run consecutively. Second, he contends that the district court violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 3584 and 3553 by failing to state in open court its reasons for deciding to run the sentences consecutively. Third, he maintains that the decision to run the sentences consecutively violated his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial because the decision was based on facts that were neither found by a jury nor admitted.

We disagree with all three procedural contentions. We do, however, remand under United States v. Ameline, 409 F.3d 1073 (9th Cir.2005) (en banc), for a determination of whether the district court would have imposed a materially different sentence if it had known that the Sentencing Guidelines were advisory.

I.

Blaine Fifield was sentenced in Montana state court, on March 13, 2003, for Assault with a Weapon, a felony under Montana law. The sentence, according to the presentence report, was “5 years deferred.” Under state law, such a sentence means *1059 that pronouncement of a sentence of imprisonment is deferred for a five-year probationary period, and that the charge can be dismissed, and no sentence of imprisonment pronounced, if probation is successfully served. See MONT. CODE ANN. § 46-18-204. As one of the conditions of his probation, Fifield was prohibited from possessing any firearm.

Shortly thereafter, on March 20, 2003, Fifield’s probation officer and local law enforcement officers searched Fifield’s home and found six firearms, as well as methamphetamine, marijuana, and drug lab paraphernalia. Fifield tested positive for the use of methamphetamine and marijuana and admitted to use of these drugs.

The events of March 20 resulted in the revocation of Fifield’s probation for his Montana Assault with a Weapon conviction. In addition, Fifield pleaded guilty in 2003 in state court to Criminal Possession of Dangerous Drugs, in violation of Montana law, for the drugs found during the March 20 search. In 2004, Fifield pleaded guilty in federal court to two additional offenses arising out of the March 20 events: (1) felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1); and (2) unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3).

On August 14, 2003, Fifield was sentenced in Montana court to a term of imprisonment of twenty years with twelve years suspended for his prior Assault with a Weapon conviction. 1 In addition, he was sentenced to a suspended term of five years for his Criminal Possession of Dangerous Drugs conviction. The Montana court ordered that the two sentences run concurrently with each other.

On July 6, 2004, the district court sentenced Fifield for the two federal offenses, applying the 2003 edition of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“Guidelines”) and treating them as mandatory. 2 The district court determined that under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(4)(A), Fifield’s base offense level was twenty, as he committed the offenses at issue after he was convicted of Assault with a Weapon, a “felony conviction of ... a crime of violence.”' U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(4)(A). In addition, the district court increased Fifield’s offense level by two levels, pursuant to § 2K2.1(b)(l)(A), because his offense involved six firearms. The court then adjusted downward three levels for acceptance of responsibility to reach a total offense level of nineteen. It determined that Fifield had a criminal history category of IV, and that the applicable Guidelines range was therefore forty-six to fifty-seven months.

The district court sentenced Fifield to fifty-four months imprisonment on each count. The court ordered that these sentences run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the Montana sentences for Assault with a Weapon and Criminal Possession of Dangerous Drugs. 3

II.

Fifield first contends that the district court violated Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32 by failing to provide him *1060 with notice that it was considering imposing sentences that would run consecutively to the state sentences. 4

The record establishes that Fifield received no specific notice that the court was considering imposing consecutive sentences, and the government does not so contend. The presentence report prepared by the United States Probation Office did not discuss whether the sentences should be concurrent or consecutive, neither party addressed the issue, and the court did not mention the issue prior to the announcement of the sentence at the sentencing hearing. Fifield’s argument is, however, meritless, because Rule 32 neither explicitly nor implicitly requires any such specific notice under the present circumstances.

A.

First, no section of Rule 32 explicitly requires such notice.

Section (h), the only section of Rule 32 that explicitly requires any kind of notice, states that “[bjefore the court may depart from the applicable sentencing range on a ground not identified for departure either in the presentence report or in a party’s prehearing submission, the court must give the parties reasonable notice that it is contemplating such a departure.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 32(h). 5 In United States v. *1061

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Bluebook (online)
432 F.3d 1056, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 29011, 2005 WL 3556912, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-blaine-travis-fifield-ca9-2005.