United States v. Robert Doggart

947 F.3d 879
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 15, 2020
Docket17-5813
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 947 F.3d 879 (United States v. Robert Doggart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Robert Doggart, 947 F.3d 879 (6th Cir. 2020).

Opinion

RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit I.O.P. 32.1(b) File Name: 20a0017p.06

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ┐ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ │ > No. 17-5813 v. │ │ │ ROBERT R. DOGGART, │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee of Chattanooga. No. 1:15-cr-00039-1—Curtis L. Collier, District Judge.

Reargued: December 19, 2019

Decided and Filed: January 15, 2020

Before: SUTTON, McKEAGUE, and THAPAR, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL

REARGUED: Jennifer Niles Coffin, FEDERAL DEFENDER SERVICES OF EASTERN TENNESSEE, INC., Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellant. Anna M. Baldwin, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEF: Jennifer Niles Coffin, FEDERAL DEFENDER SERVICES OF EASTERN TENNESSEE, INC., Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellant. Anna M. Baldwin, Thomas E. Chandler, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., Perry H. Piper, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Appellee. No. 17-5813 United States v. Doggart Page 2

_________________

OPINION _________________

SUTTON, Circuit Judge. In today’s sequel, we return to the plight of Robert Doggart, convicted at age 65 of soliciting others to terrorize the people of a small Islamic community in upstate New York. Last time around, we concluded that the district court improperly denied Doggart the benefit of a plea bargain when it applied the wrong legal standard to conclude that he had not made a “true threat.” On remand, the district court identified an alternative basis for rejecting the plea bargain—that the five-year sentence generated by it was too lenient to account for the gravity of Doggart’s conduct. Doggart objects to this conclusion and other aspects of his convictions as well as the 235-month sentence. In particular, he objects to one of his arson- solicitation convictions, contending that the target of the solicitation—a mosque—was not “used in” interstate commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 844(i). We affirm in part and reverse in part, and remand for resentencing.

I.

In 2014, Doggart, a nuclear engineer and former congressional candidate, became convinced that an Islamic community in New York, self-identified as “Islamberg,” was plotting a terrorist attack against New York City. R. 285 at 38. In a nod to O. Henry, he decided the best solution would be a terrorist attack of his own. He began posting on his Facebook page that Islamberg, referred to as “Target 3,” had to be “utterly destroyed.” R. 14 at 2.

His messages drew the attention of the FBI. It tasked a confidential informant to strike up a conversation with him. Over the internet and over the phone, Doggart tried to goad the informant into helping him assault Islamberg. He explained that the residents had “to be killed” and that “[t]heir buildings need[ed] to be burnt down,” especially their school, cafeteria, and mosque. Id. at 2–3. Doggart had the details all worked out, down to the weapons they would use, including Molotov cocktails and homemade explosives. And he had a “drop dead” day for completing the operation: April 15, 2015. Id. at 3. No. 17-5813 United States v. Doggart Page 3

Doggart did more than talk by phone about his proposed terrorist acts. On several occasions, he traveled to meet with the “gunners” he enlisted to help him. Id. at 4. One of those meetings involved the FBI’s confidential informant. Doggart showed up to the meeting with several firearms along with a map of Islamberg that marked the buildings he planned to destroy. Over lunch, he discussed different plans of attack. He made clear that his primary objective was to “burn down [the] mosque,” and that if the residents resisted he would have no choice but to “return fire.” R. 302-7 at 3. He hoped to avoid killing children unless he “ha[d] to,” although he speculated that some “collateral damage” would be inevitable. R. 302-8 at 44. Having heard enough, law enforcement arrested him soon thereafter.

After negotiating with federal prosecutors, Doggart reached a deal. He would plead guilty to one count of transmitting a threat to kill or injure someone in interstate commerce, carrying a statutory maximum of five years. See 18 U.S.C. § 875(c). In exchange, the government would not oppose a sentence reduction for his acceptance of responsibility. The district court rejected the agreement for want of a factual basis. It found insufficient evidence that Doggart had made a “true threat,” which it read to require a showing that his communications were designed to “effect some change or achieve some goal through intimidation.” R. 29 at 4 (quotation omitted).

The government came back with a new indictment and different charges. It charged Doggart with two counts of solicitation, 18 U.S.C. § 373, one for solicitation to damage religious property, id. § 247, and one for solicitation to commit federal arson, id. § 844(i). It also charged him with two counts of making a threat in interstate commerce over the telephone. See id. § 844(e). The case went to a jury, which convicted Doggart on all counts. The district court granted Doggart’s motion for judgment of acquittal on his two § 844(e) convictions for the same reason it rejected his plea bargain. The judge imposed two consecutive sentences—a 120-month sentence for his § 247 solicitation conviction and a 115-month sentence for his § 844(i) solicitation conviction.

Doggart appealed. He argued that the district court wrongly denied him the benefit of his plea bargain by applying the wrong legal test for true threats. We agreed. We sent the case back to the district court with instructions that, if it found Doggart intended to make a threat, it must No. 17-5813 United States v. Doggart Page 4

“allow him to accept the plea agreement” the government offered. United States v. Doggart, 906 F.3d 506, 512 (6th Cir. 2018).

The district court concluded that Doggart made a threat. But it refused to accept the plea bargain for a new reason. It concluded that the agreement did not adequately reflect the severity of his conduct. Unwilling to accept a different deal, Doggart reinstated his original challenges to his conviction and sentence and objected anew to the court’s rejection of the plea agreement. The government never appealed the trial court’s dismissal of the two threat convictions under § 844(e), whether during the first appeal or the second one.

II.

Up first is whether the district court abused its discretion in not accepting the plea deal we required the government to extend to him. See United States v. Cota-Luna, 891 F.3d 639, 648 (6th Cir. 2018). It did not. Because both parties agreed that the plea deal would not have allowed the government to bring other charges, Criminal Rule 11(c)(1)(A) governs. And a district court is under no obligation to accept a Rule 11(c)(1)(A) plea deal even if the defendant and the government both agree to it. See Fed R. Crim. P. 11(c)(3); United States v. Skidmore, 998 F.2d 372, 376 (6th Cir. 1999). When deciding whether to accept an agreement of this sort, courts often consider whether it “reflect[s] the seriousness of the actual offense behavior.” U.S.S.G. § 6B1.2(a); see, e.g., United States v. Baird, 109 F.3d 856, 868 (3d Cir. 1997); United States v.

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Bluebook (online)
947 F.3d 879, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-robert-doggart-ca6-2020.