United States v. Matthew Mac Brown

186 F. App'x 914
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJune 27, 2006
Docket05-13537; D.C. Docket 88-00539-CR-ASG
StatusUnpublished

This text of 186 F. App'x 914 (United States v. Matthew Mac Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Matthew Mac Brown, 186 F. App'x 914 (11th Cir. 2006).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Matthew Mac Brown appeals the 105-month sentence imposed after revocation of his probation on the grounds that (1) the sentence is unreasonable and an abuse of discretion by the district court, and (2) the sentence violates the Double Jeopardy Clause. We AFFIRM.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1988, Brown was indicted in the Middle District of Florida for one count of robbery of a bank with a deadly weapon, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), (d), to which he pled guilty. He consented to be sentenced for the count in the Southern District of Florida, where he also was under indictment for robbery of a post office with a deadly weapon, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2114(a). Brown pled guilty to the post office robbery in exchange for dismissal of related kidnaping charges.

In January 1989, the district judge sentenced Brown to twenty-five years of imprisonment for the post office robbery. The judge withheld imposition of a sentence for the bank robbery and instead placed Brown on four years of probation to “commence upon discharge from incarceration” for the post office robbery and to “run concurrently with any parole” in that case. Rl-10. The district judge noted that the sentence imposed was “under the preNovember 1, 1987 parole statutes and the post-November 1, 1987 good time allowance statutes.” Id.

In June 2003, a probation officer petitioned the district court to revoke Brown’s probation in the bank robbery case based on his illegal drug use. Rl-13. The dis *916 triet judge did not revoke Brown’s probation but reinstated the probation and added conditions of drug treatment and full-time employment. Rl-26. In May 2004, a probation officer again petitioned the district court to revoke Brown’s probation based on his arrest in March 2004 by Florida state police for armed robbery with a knife (“2004 armed robbery”). Rl27.

At the sentencing hearing, Brown admitted to his probation violation. R4 at 4. The district judge first found that Brown freely and voluntarily admitted the probation violation. Id. at 26, 40. The judge noted that Brown had committed the 2004 armed robbery less than a year after the 2003 probation hearing, at which he had received a very lenient sentence recommendation from the government. Id. at 27. The district judge read into the record the probation officer’s report that concluded Chapter 7 of the Sentencing Guidelines, concerning probation revocation, was not applicable to Brown’s case because he was not originally sentenced under the Guidelines. Id. at 41. Brown’s presentence investigation report showed that he was re-paroled, and his probation was re-activated on January 31, 2004. Id. at 42-43. The report stated that, during the armed robbery on March 21, 2004, Brown approached two store cashiers, and he stole money from one register while he brandished a knife. Id. at 43. Brown used his fourteen-year-old step-daughter as a getaway driver, and an infant was in the car at the time. Id. at 44.

The district judge accepted Brown’s Guidelines calculation of 84 to 105 months for the initial bank robbery, based on an offense level of 22 and criminal history category of VI. Id. at 46-47. Consulting the 18 U.S.C. § 3553 factors to determine the appropriate sentence, the district judge noted that Brown received a significant break when he was originally sentenced for the bank robbery and received only probation. Id. at 48-49. The judge was concerned that Brown had violated his probation in 2004 by committing an armed robbery after being recently reinstated to probation for drug-testing violations and determined that the sentence must reflect his continued violent conduct. Id. at 49-50. The district judge opined that a sentence at the top end of the Guidelines range was necessary for deterrence, promotion of respect for the law, punishment of Brown, and protection of the public; the top end of the range would reflect the seriousness of the offense. Id. at 50. Furthermore, the judge found that the Chapter 7 probation revocation guidelines were too low and stated that Brown should have been sentenced to 105 months regardless of whether his criminal history category was a V or VI in order to reflect the nature of his criminal history. Id. at 50-53. The district judge sentenced Brown to serve the term consecutive to the seventy-two-month state sentence for the 2004 armed robbery and any future term imposed for violation of his parole for the post office robbery conviction. Id. at 52-53; Rl-55 at 2. Brown appeals his sentence for 105 months of imprisonment, and he contends that the sentence, which runs consecutive to his state sentence, constitutes double jeopardy.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Reasonableness of Sentence for 105 Months of Imprisonment

Brown argues that his sentence of 105 months of imprisonment is unreasonable under United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), and that the district judge abused his discretion by sentencing him based on the Sentencing Guidelines range then applicable to the bank robbery. He maintains *917 that, according to 18 U.S.C. § 3553, the district judge needed to consider only the policy statements in Chapter 7 of the Sentencing Guidelines when fashioning his sentence and that the Sentencing Guidelines are only advisory. Brown further contends that his criminal history category of VI and grade A probation violation calculate to a Guidelines range of 33 to 41 months of imprisonment and that the district judge abused his discretion by dismissing this range as too low and using instead the Guidelines range for the original offense of 84 to 105 months of imprisonment.

We generally review a district court’s revocation of probation and “decision to exceed the sentencing range in Chapter 7 of the Sentencing Guidelines for abuse of discretion,” United States v. Dunham, 240 F.3d 1328, 1330 (11th Cir.2001) (per curiam), while we review the legality of a sentence de novo, United States v. Cook, 291 F.3d 1297, 1299 n. 2 (11th Cir.2002) (per curiam). At the time that Brown committed the bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 3565(a)(2) required a district judge, upon revoking a defendant’s probation, to “impose any other sentence that was available under subchapter A at the time of the initial sentencing.” 18 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
186 F. App'x 914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-matthew-mac-brown-ca11-2006.