United States v. Litzy

137 F. Supp. 3d 920, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137355, 2015 WL 5895199
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Virginia
DecidedOctober 8, 2015
DocketCRIMINAL ACTION NO. 3:15-00021
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 137 F. Supp. 3d 920 (United States v. Litzy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Litzy, 137 F. Supp. 3d 920, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137355, 2015 WL 5895199 (W.D. Va. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ROBERT C. CHAMBERS, CHIEF JUDGE

At sentencing this Court addressed an objection by Defendant, Jazzmyn Litzy (“Ms. Litzy”) to the Probation Office’s recommendation that this Court apply the career offender enhancement of U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“U.S.S.G.” or the “Guidelines”) § 4B1.1 to Ms. Litzy’s sentence. The Court was tasked with deciding whether Ms. Litzy’s robbery conviction under Ohio law qualified as a “crime of violence” for purposes of the - career offender enhancement. As explained below, the.Court ruled that a prior robbery conviction under Ohio . Revised Code (“O.R.C.”) § 2911.02(A)(3) cannot qualify under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines1 career offender enhancement as a predicate conviction for a crime of violence. Therefore, the career offender enhancement may not be applied in Ms. Litzy’s sentencing.

I. Background

Ms. Litzy stands convicted of possessing with intent to distribute a quantity of heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). See Order as to jazzmyn Litzy (Juñe 22, 2015), ECF No. 29. The Court accepted her plea ón June 22, 2015 and scheduled her sentencing hearing for September 21, 2015. Id. "

The Probation Office prepared a Presen-tence Report (“PSR”) to assist this Court in sentencing Ms. Litzy. As determined by the PSR, Ms. Litzy’s base offense level for possessing heroin with intent to distribute is 28 under the Guidelines § 2D1.1. Additionally, based on "the stipulation' of facts, the Probation Office recommended, and the Government supported, increasing Ms. Litzy’s offense level by applying enhancements for: possession of a dangerous weapon under § 2Dl.l(b)(l), maintaining premises for purpose, of manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance under § 2Dl.l(b)(12), and career offenders under § 4Bl.l(a). The Probation Office also recommended reducing Ms. Litzy’s offense level, by applying the adjustments for acceptance of responsibility under § 3El.l(a) and (b).

Prior to sentencing, Ms. Litzy objected to several parts of thp PSR, including applying the career offender enhancement to her sentence. Ms. Litzy’s objections were dealt with before and during the sentenc[924]*924ing hearing on September 21, 2015. After concluding the career offender enhancement does not apply in Ms. Litzy’s case, this Court sentenced .Ms. Litzy to 108 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release. The Court issues this written order to explain why it did not apply the career offender enhancement in Ms. Litzy’s case. Some background on Ms. Litzy’s criminal history is now in order.

Ms. Litzy’s criminal record is blemished by two prior felony convictions relevant to her present sentencing. See Plea Agreement, Exhibit A at 2 (June 22, 2015), ECF No, 32; Presentence Report 15-16 (Sept. 24, 2015), ECF No. 37 (prepared on Sept. 8, 2015). Her first conviction is a 2001 Ohio robbery offense. Specifically, she was convicted of third degree felony robbery under Ohio Revised Code § 2911.02(A)(3). Twenty-one years old at the time, she was sentenced to one year in prison but was granted parole after six months of incarceration. In 2005, she successfully completed her term of parole without incident.

Ms. Litzy’s second relevant conviction is a 2006 drug trafficking offense. For this and a tampering with evidence offense, she served a five year prison term beginning in 2007 and lasting until 2012. Following completion of her 2007 sentence, Ms. Litzy received no form of supervised release, no required'stay in a halfway house, parole, or any form' of supervision designed to ease her back into society. Not long after she was released from prison in 2007, Ms'. Litzy returned to a lifestyle of illicit behavior—including the drug possession for which she now is convicted by this Court.

II. Discussion

Under the Sentencing Guidelines, a convicted defendant will receive an enhanced sentence if the defendant is a “career offender.” U.S. Sentencing Guide lines Manual § 4B1.1 (U.S. Sentencing Comm’n 2004). A career offender is a defendant: (1) who' is “at least eighteen years old at the time the defendant committed the instant offense of conviction”; (2) whose instant offense is “a felony that js either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense”; and (3) who “has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.” U.S.S.G. § 4Bl.l(a) (emphasis supplied). The Guidelines, in § 4B1.2(a), define “crime of violence” as:

[A]ny offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that—
(1) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, of
(2) is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.

U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a). Often, § 481.2(a)(1) is referred to as the “force clause,” while § 4B1.2(a)(2) contains what is known as the “residual clause.”1 See e.g., United States v. Shell, 789 F.3d 335, 341 (4th Cir.2015).

Additionally, Application Note 1 to § 4B 1.2(a) enumerates robbery among several offenses that are considered crimes of violence. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a) cmt. n.l. The commentary to the Guidelines is authoritative and binding, “unless it violates the Constitution or a federal statute, or is inconsistent with, or plainly erroneous reading of,” the Guideline itself. Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36, 38, 113 S.Ct. [925]*9251913, 123 L.Ed.2d 598 (1993). But the text of the Guidelines takes precedence over the commentary, Shell, 789 F.3d at 340, and so courts should begin by applying the textual definition for crime of violence and then look to the commentary, which serves only to amplify the textual definition. See id. at 345 (ruling that § 4B1.2(a) provides a two-part definition of crime of violence in its text, and any inconsistency between the two is resolved in favor of the text).

When a defendant has a conviction under state law that is labeled identically to a commentary enumerated offense, the state conviction must come within the Guidelines’ meaning of that enumerated offense before the state conviction can qualify as a “crime of violence.” See United States v. Peterson, 629 F.3d 432 (4th Cir.2011) (holding North Carolina conviction for manslaughter does not constitute “manslaughter” as enumerated in commentary to § 4B1.2). In short, offenses in the commentary do not have “free-standing definitional power” and must be either linked to a prong of § 4B1.2(a)’s textual definition for crime of violence or the commentary’s generic definition of the enumerated offense. See Shell, 789 F.3d at 345 (ruling that § 4B1.2, unlike § 2L1.2, cannot be applied to offenses committed without “violent” force); Peterson,

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

Related

In re Patrick
833 F.3d 584 (Sixth Circuit, 2016)
Fleming v. United States
192 F. Supp. 3d 841 (E.D. Michigan, 2016)
United States v. Reed
187 F. Supp. 3d 743 (W.D. Louisiana, 2016)
United States v. Jesse Pawlak
822 F.3d 902 (Sixth Circuit, 2016)
Lucas v. United States
162 F. Supp. 3d 883 (D. South Dakota, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 F. Supp. 3d 920, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137355, 2015 WL 5895199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-litzy-vawd-2015.