United States v. DeChick

181 F. App'x 100
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedMay 18, 2006
DocketNo. 05-0990-cr
StatusPublished

This text of 181 F. App'x 100 (United States v. DeChick) 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 v. DeChick, 181 F. App'x 100 (2d Cir. 2006).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Defendant-Appellant Christopher DeChick appeals from a judgment entered February 16, 2005 in the Western District of New York (Charles J. Siragusa, Judge), following a guilty plea, convicting him of two counts of possession and interstate transmission of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252A(a)(5)(B) and (b)(1). DeChick further appeals his sentence of 108 months’ term of incarceration and lifetime supervised release. For the reasons that follow, we reject all of DeChick’s claims. We assume familiarity with the facts, procedural history, and issues on appeal.

DeChick seeks to vacate his guilty plea on the ground that the District Court faded to advise him of the consequences of his plea. He points to several respects in which the District Court’s recitation deviated slightly from the text of Fed. R.Crim.P. 11. We “‘generally require sentencing courts to adhere strictly to the specific provisions of Rule 11.’” United States v. Andrades, 169 F.3d 131, 133 (2d Cir.1999) (quoting United States v. Renaud, 999 F.2d 622, 624 (2d Cir.1993)). However, when defendant has not objected below to the Rule 11 violation, as is the case here, such variances are reviewed for plain error under Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b). United States v. Vaval, 404 F.3d 144, 151 (2d Cir.2005). Under that standard, the defendant must establish that there is “ ‘a reasonable probability that, but for the error, he would not have entered the plea.’ ” Vaval, 404 F.3d at 151 (quoting [102]*102United States v. Dominguez Benitez, 542 U.S. 74, 83, 124 S.Ct. 2333, 159 L.Ed.2d 157 (2004)).

DeChick complains that he was not advised that he had “the right to plead not guilty,” as required by Rule 11(b)(1)(B), but instead that he had “under our law the absolute right to go to trial.” Second, he was advised that, if he chose to go to trial, he was entitled to continued representation, but not that he was entitled to representation “at trial and at every other stage of the proceedings.” Rule 11(b)(1)(D) (emphasis added). Third, he was not informed of his “right at trial [] to compel the attendance of witnesses,” Rule 11(b)(1)(E) (emphasis added), but only that he could “call witnesses.” However, DeChick does not claim that he would not have entered his plea had the District Court not made these minor deviations from the text of Rule 11, and it would be impossible to credit such a claim if he were to make it.

DeChick also argues that the District Court faded to inform him that he faced a potential sentence of lifetime supervised release, and claims that if he had been so informed he would not have entered his plea. This claim is plainly contradicted by the record. The plea agreement and the District Court both informed DeChick that he faced a maximum possible sentence of lifetime supervised release. We therefore decline to vacate DeChick’s plea.

DeChick challenges his sentence of 108 months’ imprisonment on the ground it is based on an incorrect calculation of the advisory guidelines. Specifically, DeChick argues that the District Court improperly relied on 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b)(2) in order to deny DeChick’s request for a downward departure.

18 U.S.C. § 3553(b)(2), as the District Court noted, limited the authority of sentencing courts in certain sexual offense cases to depart downwards from the guidelines, requiring that any mitigating circumstance that forms the basis for such a downward departure be affirmatively and specifically identified as a ground for departure in the sentencing guidelines or policy statements. Subsequent to DeChick’s sentencing hearing, in United States v. Selioutsky, 409 F.3d 114, 117 & n. 6 (2d Cir.2005), we held that, following United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), § 3553(b)(2) had to be considered excised — not merely rendered non-mandatory, but excised in its entirety. It therefore no longer places a limit on a sentencing court’s authority to depart downwards.

In this case, however, the District Court — perhaps recognizing that § 3553(b)(2) was of questionable legitimacy in the post-Booker era — calculated the appropriate guidelines sentence for DeChick both with and without § 3553(b)(2), and found that the same result was appropriate in either case. As DeChick notes, the District Court rejected DeChick’s request for a downward departure on the basis that none of the grounds for departure offered by DeChick “would comport with” § 3553(b)(2); but the District Court also found that “even if somehow your reasons were allowed to be a basis for a downward departure, I don’t consider anything offered [ ] on your behalf either individually or in combination that would justify taking this case out of the heartland of cases.”

There was therefore no error in the District Court’s calculation of the advisory guidelines with respect to the sentence of imprisonment. Insofar as DeChick argues that the District Court was unaware of its authority, post-Booker, to impose a non-Guidelines sentence, that argument is clearly contrary to the record.

DeChick challenges his sentence of lifetime supervised release on a number of [103]*103grounds. First, DeChick argues that the District Court improperly calculated the appropriate term of supervised release under the advisory Guidelines, by relying on a provision of the Guidelines that came into effect on November 1, 2004, prior to sentencing but after the commission of DeChick’s offenses. The 2004 Guidelines provided for a maximum lifetime term of supervised release for sex offenders, U.S.S.G. § 5D1.2(a)(3), (b)(2) (2004). The Guidelines in effect in 2003, when the offenses were committed, did not contain that provision, and called for a term of supervised release of no more than five years, other than for certain crimes of violence. The advisory Guidelines require that a sentencing court use the Guidelines in effect at the time of sentencing, unless to do so “would violate the ex post facto clause of the United States Constitution [in which case] the court shall use the Guidelines Manual in effect on the date that the offense of conviction was committed.” U.S.S.G. § lBl.ll(b)(l); see also United, States v. Gonzalez, 281 F.3d 38

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Fernandez
443 F.3d 19 (Second Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Johnson
529 U.S. 53 (Supreme Court, 2000)
United States v. Dominguez Benitez
542 U.S. 74 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Booker
543 U.S. 220 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Turenne A. Renaud
999 F.2d 622 (Second Circuit, 1993)
United States v. Luis Santiago Gonzalez
281 F.3d 38 (Second Circuit, 2002)
United States v. Troy Vaval, AKA Justice Vaval
404 F.3d 144 (Second Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Robert Maloney
406 F.3d 149 (Second Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Boris Selioutsky
409 F.3d 114 (Second Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Roylin Fairclough
439 F.3d 76 (Second Circuit, 2006)
United States v. William H. Hayes
445 F.3d 536 (Second Circuit, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
181 F. App'x 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-dechick-ca2-2006.