United States v. Lebon

800 F. Supp. 1012, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14486, 1992 WL 233636
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedSeptember 1, 1992
DocketNo. Cr. 91-10289-WD
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 800 F. Supp. 1012 (United States v. Lebon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Lebon, 800 F. Supp. 1012, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14486, 1992 WL 233636 (D. Mass. 1992).

Opinion

SENTENCING MEMORANDUM

FUSTE, District Judge.

The defendant, Peter A. Lebon, was found guilty by jury verdict on May 11, 1992, in the District of Massachusetts, for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced on August 4, 1992. A Presentence Report (PSR) was prepared by the probation officer of the court. Based upon the lengthy criminal record of this defendant, the court treated Mr. Lebon as an Armed Career Criminal (ACC) under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). The defendant raised no objections to the PSR, which included, in PART F, page 20, a listing of the factors that warranted an [1013]*1013upward departure. The PSR states the following:

(101) Per Guideline 4A1.3(a) and (b), the court may depart upward if it is found that the defendant’s criminal history score does not adequately reflect the defendant’s criminal past and the likelihood that he will continue to commit crimes. Specifically, the defendant has six convictions, totalling six points which could not be counted as he had “maxed out” with four 1-point convictions pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 4Al.l(c). He has three other convictions which, although occurring on different dates, were consolidated for sentencing and were counted as one offense. Furthermore, many of these convictions involved findings of guilt on multiple counts. Lastly, despite the 6-points which could not be counted under 4Al.l(c), he still has 26 criminal history points. To be placed in the highest criminal history category (VI) a defendant needs “13 or more points.” This defendant has obviously doubled the threshold amount and might be more suitably placed in a hypothetical criminal history category of XII.
(102) Additionally, if the defendant were to have committed the same instant offense at the time that the current guidelines were in effect, he would now be facing a total offense level of 26 rather than the level 14 he now has. Even more significantly, the defendant, under the current guidelines, would be deemed an Armed Career Criminal under provisions of U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4, which would result in his total offense level being 33. At an offense level of 33 with the defendant’s criminal history category of VI, he would be facing a guideline imprisonment range of 235 to 293 months.

At the time of sentencing, the court determined that the base offense level (BOL) was 14 and that the Criminal History Category was VI. By virtue of 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1), which requires an enhanced mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years for defendants who have three or more prior violent or serious drug-related convictions, and U.S.S.G. § 5Gl.l(b), the minimum mandatory sentence, of 180 months was determined to be the guideline sentence. The supervised release range was from three to five years and the fine range from $4,000 to $40,000.

Based on the above, the court sentenced the defendant to imprisonment for a term of 240 months. No fine was imposed, and a five-year term of supervised release was set. The court made an upward departure from 180 to 240 months based on the fact that Mr. Lebon’s Criminal History Category did not adequately reflect the defendant’s criminal past and the likelihood that he will continue to commit crimes. We now expand on the reasons for the upward departure.

I.

The Offense Conduct

The offense conduct, taken from PART A of the PSR, pages 1-3, ¶¶ (6)-(17), is described as follows:

(6) On August 12,1990, at approximately 3:30 pm, defendant and a girlfriend, Tina Pina, drove to a public recreation area in Mashpee known as Attaquin Park. After speaking with several friends the defendant — still in his car — noticed that a second man, Thomas Maddox, was sitting on the “hill” overlooking the parking lot. The defendant yelled for Mr. Maddox to come down to talk to him about an argument they had had the previous night. (According to investigators the argument began because Maddox was attempting to impede the defendant’s romantic overtures to Maddox’s young niece.) The two began to argue again, and one of the men demanded that they “take care of it right now.” When defendant began to get out of his car, Mr. Maddox retreated back to the hill. The defendant then wheeled the car around so that he was facing the hill, and yelled either “Clear the kids off the hill! I’m coming back with something for you!” or “Clear the kids off the hill! I’m coming back with a gun!” The defendant and Ms. Pina left the park at high rate of speed.
(7) Within a very short time, the Mash-pee Director of Beaches, Howard Neild, [1014]*1014arrived at Attaquin Park on a routine patrol. Mr. Neild was quickly surrounded by seven or eight people who told him of the incident and the defendant’s threat to Mr. Maddox. Mr. Neild radioed the Mashpee police dispatcher with the word that “Musky” — defendant’s nickname— had just left in a blue Dodge Daytona and had threatened to return with a gun.
(8) At 3:32 pm, Detective Scott McCabe and Patrolman Randy DeMello responded to Mr. Neild’s radio call. Officer McCabe spoke with the witnesses on the scene, including Mr. Maddox. Mr. Maddox informed Detective McCabe that “Musky” had threatened to return with a gun. The officers searched the immediate vicinity of Attaquin Park in their cruisers, but were unable to find the defendant at that time.
(9) Meanwhile, Ms. Pina and the defendant — who was visibly angry — drove towards Falmouth____ The defendant entered the house, stayed inside briefly, and returned to the car. Defendant then headed back toward Mashpee.
(10) As defendant and Ms. Pina headed toward Mashpee, they observed a friend of defendant’s, Stefan Pina, using a pay phone. Defendant stopped the car and asked Mr. Pina whether he would like to take a drive. When Mr. Pina agreed, the defendant suggested that Mr. Pina drive; Ms. Pina moved into the back seat, and the defendant slid over to the front passenger seat.
(11) At approximately 4:00 pm, Officers DeMello and McCabe — who were parked at the corner of great Neck Road and Route 130, approximately one eighth of a mile from the entrance to Attaquin Park — observed defendant’s Dodge Daytona pass by their cruisers and turn onto Route 130 heading toward Attaquin Park. The officers observed the defendant sitting in the passenger seat. Officer DeMello pulled his cruiser in behind the Daytona, followed by Detective McCabe.
(12) As the defendant’s car approached the entrance to Attaquin Park, the police officers observed the right directional signal, indicating that the car was to turn onto the Attaquin Park entrance road. The officers activated their overhead lights and sirens. With the cruisers in pursuit, the Daytona drove past the Attaquin Park entrance road and continued on for several hundred yards without pulling over. Finally, the car crossed the street and pulled into a lot in front of “Mr. T’s” auto body shop.
(13) Within defendant’s car, Ms. Pina— who had been looking at the cruisers pulling in behind their car — turned back toward the front of the car.

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Bluebook (online)
800 F. Supp. 1012, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14486, 1992 WL 233636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lebon-mad-1992.