United States v. Frank, John

247 F. App'x 14
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMay 3, 2007
Docket06-3582
StatusUnpublished

This text of 247 F. App'x 14 (United States v. Frank, John) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Frank, John, 247 F. App'x 14 (7th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

ORDER

John Frank pleaded guilty to one count of distributing cocaine. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(a). The district court, relying on a presentence investigation report that Frank accepted without objection, calculated a guidelines imprisonment range of 70 to 87 months based on a total offense level of 23 and a criminal history category of IV. The court sentenced Frank to 84 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release.

Frank filed a notice of appeal, but his newly appointed appellate lawyer now moves to withdraw under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), because she cannot discern a nonfrivolous issue for appeal. We invited Frank to respond, see Cir. R. 51(b), but he has not done so. We will consider only those potential issues identified in counsel’s facially adequate brief. See United, States v. Tabb, 125 F.3d 583, 584 (7th Cir.1997) (per curiam).

Frank does not want to have his guilty plea set aside, and thus counsel correctly declines to discuss whether Frank could argue that the plea was not knowing and voluntary. See United States v. Knox, 287 F.3d 667, 670-71 (7th Cir.2002).

Counsel first considers whether Frank could challenge the district court’s calculation of his offense level. We agree with counsel that any such challenge would be frivolous. The court set Frank’s base offense level at 26 based on a drug quantity of at least 500 grams but less than 2 *16 kilograms of cocaine. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(e)(7). Frank waived any possible challenge to this decision by stipulating in his written plea agreement that his relevant conduct involved this amount of cocaine, see United States v. Newman, 148 F.3d 871, 877-78 (7th Cir.1998); United States v. Flores-Sandoval, 94 F.3d 346, 349 (7th Cir.1996), and he received the maximum reduction to his offense level for acceptance of responsibility, see U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1.

Counsel next considers whether Frank could challenge his criminal history score. Frank received a total of seven criminal history points. He has two sexual-assault convictions from 1984 stemming from his molestation of his twin stepdaughters. The district court assessed three points for the first of these related convictions and one point for the other. The court also assessed one point each for a drug-possession conviction from 1991 and two drunk-driving convictions from 1994 and 1996.

We agree with counsel that any challenge to the assessment of points for Frank’s drug-possession and drunk-driving convictions would be frivolous. All of these convictions are for countable offenses, see U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(c)(1); United States v. Hagenow, 423 F.3d 638, 645 (7th Cir.2005); United States v. Zuniga-Lazaro, 388 F.3d 308, 315 (7th Cir.2004), and the sentence for each was imposed within 10 years of Frank’s commission of the instant offense, see U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e)(2); Zuniga-Lazaro, 388 F.3d at 316.

Counsel now informs us that Frank wants to argue that his sexual-assault convictions are too old to be counted. This potential argument plainly would be frivolous with respect to the conviction for which Frank received three points. Frank was sentenced to three years in prison for this offense and was not released until May 1986, less than 15 years before the April 2001 drug distribution underlying his conviction here. See U.S.S.G. §§ 4A1.1(a), 4A1.2(e)(1); United States v. Gajdik, 292 F.3d 555, 558 (7th Cir.2002); United States v. Souffront, 338 F.3d 809, 833 (7th Cir.2003).

Frank’s other sexual-assault conviction is a more complicated matter. Related offenses, as these are, normally count only once, U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(a)(2), but the district court assessed one point for the second conviction under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1(f). That guideline provides that a single point can be assessed for a crime of violence which otherwise would have been excluded as related to a counted conviction. Frank also was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on the second conviction, but execution of that sentence was stayed in favor of a five-year probation term that commenced after he served his prison term for the other sexual assault. A suspended term is not considered a sentence of imprisonment under the guidelines, U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(b)(2), and ordinarily any sentence short of a year and a month in prison must have been imposed within 10 years of the commencement of the instant offense to count, U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e)(2). Frank’s sentence for the second sexual assault was imposed 17 years before he committed the present drug offense. But he violated his probation and was returned to prison, and when probation is revoked, the prison sentence imposed on revocation is added to the executed portion of any prison term initially received for the offense. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(k)(1). The record does not disclose how much prison time the court imposed upon revocation, though in Wisconsin the revocation of a term of probation imposed in lieu of a stayed prison sentence results in the reinstatement of the original term of confinement. Wis. Stat. §§ 973.09(1)(a), 973.15(8)(a), 973.10(2)(b); *17 State v. Horn, 226 Wis.2d 637, 594 N.W.2d 772, 778 (1999). If that is what happened to Frank, then his second sexual-assault conviction is recent enough to count because he ultimately received a three-year sentence of imprisonment and was not released until 1987 — less than 15 years before commencement of the drug offense. See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e)(1). We see no reason to speculate that Frank’s revocation did not follow the norm, especially given that our review would be limited to plain error because Frank did not object in the district court. See United States v. Jaimes-Jaimes, 406 F.3d 845, 848-49 (7th Cir.2005).

The second conviction for sexual assault was thus recent enough to be counted so long as the offense qualified as a crime of violence. See U.S.S.G. §§ 4A1.1(f), 4131.2(a). Frank specifically was convicted of first-degree sexual assault, which at the time included both nonconsensual sexual contact and any sexual contact with a child of 12 or younger. See Wis. Stat. § 940.225(1) (1982).

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Related

Anders v. California
386 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1967)
United States v. Sherwood
156 F.3d 219 (First Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Agustin Flores-Sandoval
94 F.3d 346 (Seventh Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Defabian C. Shannon
110 F.3d 382 (Seventh Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Keith Newman
148 F.3d 871 (Seventh Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Manuel Coronado-Cervantes, Jr.
154 F.3d 1242 (Tenth Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Derrick Thomas and Jason A. Scott
159 F.3d 296 (Seventh Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Reymundo Martinez-Carillo
250 F.3d 1101 (Seventh Circuit, 2001)
United States v. Carnell Brown, Cross-Appellee
273 F.3d 747 (Seventh Circuit, 2001)
United States v. Larry D. Knox
287 F.3d 667 (Seventh Circuit, 2002)
United States v. William J. Gajdik
292 F.3d 555 (Seventh Circuit, 2002)
United States v. Sergio Zuniga-Lazaro
388 F.3d 308 (Seventh Circuit, 2004)
United States v. Rene Jaimes-Jaimes
406 F.3d 845 (Seventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Robert Mykytiuk
415 F.3d 606 (Seventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Jeremy D. Hagenow
423 F.3d 638 (Seventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Rita
177 F. App'x 357 (Fourth Circuit, 2006)
State v. Horn
594 N.W.2d 772 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
247 F. App'x 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-frank-john-ca7-2007.