United States v. Mosby

543 F.3d 438, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 19565, 2008 WL 4205802
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 16, 2008
Docket07-2093
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 543 F.3d 438 (United States v. Mosby) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Mosby, 543 F.3d 438, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 19565, 2008 WL 4205802 (8th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

ERICKSON, District Judge.

This is an appeal from Alexisus Jarmon Mosby’s conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Mosby’s Guideline calculation included a four-level enhancement, which resulted in a lower sentencing range than would have resulted in the absence of the enhancement. At sentencing, the district court 2 departed upward to a sentence within the range that would have been applicable, absent the enhancement. The defendant appealed, asserting the sentence imposed is substantively unreasonable. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

I.

In the summer of 2006, Mosby was spotted by Charles Greaves, a Minneapolis, Minnesota, police officer, outside a Minneapolis night club. Officer Greaves was responding to a report that a club patron had a gun. As Officer Greaves approached, Mosby began running. Officer Greaves gave chase. During the pursuit, Mosby threw a revolver under a vehicle. Mosby was ultimately apprehended and arrested by Officer Greaves.

This was not 24-year-old Mosby’s first encounter with the law. Mosby’s involvement with the criminal justice system began when he was 14 years old with several car thefts. Mosby’s criminality continued as an adult, and his current history includes a 1999 felony conviction for theft of a motor vehicle, convictions in 2000 for felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor trespassing, and a 2002 conviction for felony attempted possession of a controlled substance. In 2003, Mosby was convicted of three felonies: fleeing a police officer, theft of a motor vehicle, and felon in possession of a firearm.

Mosby was charged in a single-count indictment with unlawful possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). Mosby proceeded to trial and was convicted by a jury.

During Mosby’s sentencing hearing, the district court recognized that if a four-level *440 enhancement were applied to Mosby’s Guideline calculation under United States Sentencing Guideline (U.S.S.G.) § 2K2.1(b)(6) for his possession of a firearm in the 2003 felony fleeing and theft of a motor vehicle convictions, his sentencing range would ultimately be reduced. The court concluded the enhancement was appropriate under our decision in United States v. Davis, 360 F.3d 901 (8th Cir. 2004), and applied it to Mosby’s Guideline calculation.

The sentencing judge vocalized the absurdity of the result and questioned the validity of Davis. The United States moved for an upward departure. The court found that the resulting criminal history score substantially under-represented his history and failed to recognize the likelihood that he would commit other crimes. The court granted an upward departure and sentenced Mosby to 108 months imprisonment. Mosby appealed, arguing the court’s upward departure under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3 was improper.

II.

On appeal, a district court’s sentence is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Gall v. United States, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 586, 597, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007); United States v. Miller, 484 F.3d 968, 970 (8th Cir.2007) (holding that sentencing departures are reviewed using the abuse-of-discretion standard). An appellate court’s review is two-pronged:

It must first ensure that the district court committed no significant procedural error, such as failing to calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range, treating the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the § 3553(a) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the chosen sentence— including an explanation for any deviation from the Guidelines range. Assuming that the district court’s sentencing decision is procedurally sound, the appellate court should then consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence imposed under an abuse-of-discretion standard.

Gall, 128 S.Ct. at 597. Although it appears that Mosby concedes the district court committed no procedural error and only questions the substantive reasonableness of the sentence, the United States challenges the Guideline calculation, specifically questioning the validity of Davis. Because it is apparent no other potential for procedural error occurred in this case, our review on this prong will focus on the validity of Davis and the resulting four-level enhancement under § 2K2.1(b)(6).

A.

Davis holds that the four-level enhancement under § 2K2.1(b)(6) for “possess[ing] any firearm or ammunition in connection with another felony offense” is applicable in relation to the commission of both contemporaneous and non-eontemporaneous felonies. 360 F.3d at 903. Therefore, an individual who is sentenced under § 2K2.1 and possessed a firearm in connection with a felony committed years pri- or would be subject to the four-level enhancement. Id. In Davis, this resulted in an increased sentencing range. In the instant case, a lower sentencing range resulted from this application.

Mosby’s criminal history included three convictions in 2003 for felony motor vehicle theft, fleeing, and felon in possession, all stemming from a single incident. In that case, a loaded, cocked gun “facilitated, or had the potential of facilitating” the theft and fleeing. See U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1 cmt. n. 14(A). Under Davis, these charges are relevant conduct to the instant offense and trigger the four-level § 2K2.1(b)(6) en- *441 haneement. Applying the enhancement to Mosby’s base offense level of 20 under § 2K2.1(a)(4)(A), the resulting offense level is 24. Because the 2003 convictions, as “relevant conduct,” could not be scored for criminal history purposes, Mosby had eight criminal history points and was in category IV, with a sentencing range of 77 to 96 months.

Absent the enhancement, the 2003 convictions would be scoreable. The total offense level would have remained 24 under § 2K2.1(a)(2), 3 but Mosby’s criminal history category would be VI after adding six additional points — three for the 2003 offenses, plus three for committing the instant offense while on probation and within two years of his release from the 2003 convictions. Thus, he would have had a sentencing range of 100 to 125 months.

The sentencing judge struggled with the application of the Guidelines under Davis but ultimately determined that the enhancement was applicable and the accurate sentencing range was 77 to 96 months. In Davis, we stated:

Nothing in § 2K2.1(b)(5) 4 expressly precludes its application to a felony offense that occurred at a time and place distinct from the offense of conviction ....

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Bluebook (online)
543 F.3d 438, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 19565, 2008 WL 4205802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mosby-ca8-2008.