United States v. Pruitt

545 F.3d 416, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 21843, 2008 WL 4629911
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit·Decided October 21, 2008·No. 06-6002·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinions

ROGERS, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which MOORE, J., joined. MERRITT, J. (pp. 426-31), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

OPINION

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

In determining whether to apply the career offender provision of the United States Sentencing Guidelines, must the federal court take into account the defendant’s state criminal history (or lack thereof) at the time of his predicate North Carolina convictions? The answer is yes, given the particular characteristics of North Carolina sentencing law, in light of recent United States Supreme Court precedent.

After pleading guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and one count of manufacturing marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), defendant Samson Pruitt was sentenced to 262 months’ imprisonment. During sentencing, the district court determined that Pruitt qualified as a career offender under the United States Sentencing Guidelines on the basis of two prior drug convictions that Pruitt had sustained in North Carolina, and for which Pruitt was sentenced to imprisonment for less than one year.

For a prior conviction to qualify as a predicate under the career offender guideline, U.S. S.G. § 4B1.1, the offense of conviction must have been “punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.” U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2 cmt. n. 1. Under North Carolina’s structured felony sentencing scheme, the maximum punishment authorized for Pruitt’s prior offenses of conviction depended on Pruitt’s state law “prior record level” at the time of each conviction. See N.C. Gen. St. § 15A-1 340.17(c)-(d). In determining whether Pruitt’s prior convictions qualified as predicates, the district court did not consider Pruitt’s prior record level, but rather con[418]*418sidered the maximum sentence allowable for a hypothetical defendant with the worst prior record level. Because this was procedural error, Pruitt’s sentence must be vacated and his case remanded for re-sentencing.

I.

On June 23, 2005, federal and state agents, acting on information received from various sources, executed a search warrant at Pruitt’s home. Upon entering the residence, officers found a large indoor marijuana growing operation. The search also yielded three firearms located in an upstairs closet and over 1,400 rounds of ammunition. After the officers read Pruitt his Miranda rights, Pruitt admitted that he had previously been convicted of felony marijuana charges, that he owned the marijuana operation, and that he was a regular user of marijuana and cocaine.

On July 1, 2005, Pruitt signed a written plea agreement and an agreed factual basis in which he admitted to growing an amount of marijuana in excess of 100 plants and to possessing the three firearms found in his home. Under the plea agreement, Pruitt agreed to plead guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and to one count of manufacturing marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Pruitt later pled guilty to both counts in open court on July 11, 2005. Prior to entry of Pruitt’s guilty plea, the government filed in open court, pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851(a), an information giving notice of its intent to seek an increased punishment under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B), on the basis that Pruitt had previously been convicted of felony drug offenses.

The probation department prepared a presentence report detailing Pruitt’s exposure under the sentencing guidelines. With respect to the § 922(g) count, the report calculated a base offense level of 24 because Pruitt had two prior felony controlled substance convictions. This base offense level was increased by two levels because Pruitt possessed three firearms, resulting in an offense level of 26. With respect to the § 841(a)(1) count, the pre-sentence report calculated an offense level of 16. Under the guidelines grouping rules, this yielded a total combined offense level of 26. However, because Pruitt had previously been convicted of two prior felony controlled substance offenses in North Carolina, the presentence report concluded that Pruitt was a career offender under U.S. S.G. § 4B1.1. As a result, Pruitt’s offense level was adjusted upward to 37. With a three-level downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility, the report settled on an offense level of 34. Due to his status as a career offender, Pruitt’s criminal history category was calculated to be VI. With the offense level of 34, this yielded an advisory guidelines range of 262-327 months’ imprisonment.

After receiving the presentence report, Pruitt filed an objection to its career offender determination. Pruitt asserted that the prior convictions relied upon in the report did not qualify as predicates under § 4B1.1 because those convictions were not for offenses “punishable” by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year. On July 10, 2006, the district court entered a written order overruling Pruitt’s objection and concluding that the relevant prior offenses of conviction were qualifying predicates. The district court reasoned that the relevant North Carolina sentencing statute authorized a sentence of up to 15 months’ imprisonment for Pruitt’s prior offenses of conviction, and that Pruitt’s particular prior record level at the time of each conviction was irrelevant to the analysis.

[419]*419On July 17, 2006, the district court held a sentencing hearing. After accepting the advisory guidelines calculations in the pre-sentence report, including the application of the career offender enhancement, the court sentenced Pruitt to a total term of 262 months’ imprisonment — 120 months for the § 922(g) count and 262 months for the § 841(a) count, to run concurrently.

II.

Because the district court did not account for Pruitt’s prior record level under North Carolina law in determining whether Pruitt’s two prior North Carolina convictions were “punishable by ... imprisonment for a term exceeding one year,” Pruitt’s sentence must be vacated and remanded. In the context of North Carolina’s structured sentencing scheme, an offense of conviction is “punishable” for a term exceeding one year only if the state court could have sentenced a hypothetical defendant with the same prior record level as the defendant’s prior record level to a term exceeding one year.

Under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, a defendant qualifies as a career offender if, among other things, “the defendant has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.” § 4Bl.l(a). In turn, § 4B1.2 defines “prior felony conviction” to mean

a prior adult federal or state conviction for an offense punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, regardless of whether such offense is specifically designated as a felony and regardless of the actual sentence imposed.

§ 4B1.2 cmt. n. 1.

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United States v. Pruitt, 545 F.3d 416, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 21843, 2008 WL 4629911 (6th Cir. 2008).

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United States v. Pruitt
545 F.3d 416 (Sixth Circuit, 2008)