United States v. Rodney Hailey

563 F. App'x 229
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedMarch 27, 2014
Docket13-4188
StatusUnpublished

This text of 563 F. App'x 229 (United States v. Rodney Hailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth 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. Rodney Hailey, 563 F. App'x 229 (4th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

Affirmed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:

Following a six-day jury trial, Rodney R. Hailey was convicted of eight counts of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (2012); thirty-one counts of money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957 (2012); and two counts of violating the Clean Air Act, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(A) (2012) and various federal regulations. The district court sentenced Hailey to 151 months’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $42,196,089.78 in restitution.

On appeal, Hailey does not raise any trial issues or dispute the restitution order. He challenges only the custodial term of imprisonment. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment.

*231 In his lead argument, Hailey asks that we extend the holding in Alleyne v. United States, — U.S. —, 133 S.Ct. 2151, 186 L.Ed.2d 314 (2013), to preclude the district court from making factual findings as relevant to sentencing enhancements, in addition to prohibiting factual findings that increase the applicable statutory mandatory minimum sentence. We find no support for this proposition. See Alleyne, 133 S.Ct. at 2163 (explaining that the Court’s holding “does not mean that any fact that influences judicial discretion must be found by a jury”); see also United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 233, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005) (“[W]hen a trial judge exercises his discretion to select a specific sentence within a defined range, the defendant has no right to a jury determination of the facts that the judge deems relevant.”); United States v. Valdez, 739 F.3d 1052, 1054 (7th Cir.2014) (declining to interpret Alleyne as overruling Booker to require that factual issues related to the determination of the defendant’s advisory Guidelines range be submitted to a jury, and expressly concluding that “[t]here is no conflict” between Alleyne and Booker).

Hailey next challenges the reasonableness of his sentence. We review any criminal sentence, “whether inside, just outside, or significantly outside the Guidelines range,” for reasonableness, “under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard.” United States v. King, 673 F.3d 274, 283 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 133 S.Ct. 216, 184 L.Ed.2d 111 (2012); see Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 46, 51, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). Of course, the first step in procedural reasonableness review is to evaluate the district court’s Guidelines calculations. Gall, 552 U.S. at 51, 128 S.Ct. 586.

Hailey maintains that the district court erred in determining his Guidelines range by failing to make express findings as to the two-level enhancement for the number of victims of the offense, see U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“USSG”) § 2B1.1(b)(2)(A) (2011), and the one-level increase for having a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1957, see USSG § 2S1.1 (b)(2)(A).

Generally, in reviewing the district court’s calculations under the Guidelines, this court “review[s] the district court’s legal conclusions de novo and its factual findings for clear error.” United States v. Manigan, 592 F.3d 621, 626 (4th Cir.2010) (internal quotation marks omitted). However, because Hailey failed to object to the Guidelines calculations challenged on appeal, Hailey’s claim is reviewed for plain error. United States v. Blatstein, 482 F.3d 725, 731 (4th Cir.2007).

We find no such error on this record. Although Hailey complains of the district court’s failure to make factual findings regarding these two enhancements, he did not dispute them at sentencing. Pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(i)(3)(A), the sentencing court “may accept any undisputed portion of the presentence report as a finding of fact.” Moreover, even if a defendant objects to a finding in the presentence report (“PSR”), in the absence of an affirmative showing that the information is not accurate, the court is “free to adopt the findings of the presentence report without more specific inquiry or explanation.” United States v. Love, 134 F.3d 595, 606 (4th Cir.1998) (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted).

Given Hailey’s failure to object to these enhancements and his related failure to affirmatively show that the PSR was inaccurate, there is no error, let alone plain error, in the district court’s reliance on the PSR.

Hailey next claims the court failed to adequately analyze the particular facts of his case in terms of the 18 U.S.C. *232 § 3553(a) (2012) sentencing factors and to provide a sufficient explanation for the selected sentence. We disagree. Prior to imposing sentence, the district court detailed the facts of this case, focusing particularly on the sophistication and scope of the underlying fraud and Hailey’s personal history and characteristics. The court expressed its concern regarding the motivation for these crimes, emphasizing that Hailey’s actions were born of blatant greed. The court also noted the public interests that were harmed by Hailey’s crimes, which took advantage of a “well-intended government program.”

The sentencing transcript thus makes clear that the district court received the parties’ sentencing arguments, weighed the § 3553(a) sentencing factors it viewed to be the most relevant, and relied on those factors to select a sentence for Hailey. See Gall, 552 U.S. at 49-50, 128 S.Ct. 586. The court’s explanation for the sentence, which was within Hailey’s advisory Guidelines range, was more than sufficient. See United States v. Hernandez, 603 F.3d 267, 271-72 (4th Cir.2010) (recognizing that a within-Guidelines sentence does not require an “elaborate or lengthy” explanation). We thus readily conclude that the district court fulfilled its duty to analyze the sentencing factors and offer an individualized explanation for the sentence it imposed. See United States v. Lynn,

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Related

United States v. Hernandez
603 F.3d 267 (Fourth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Booker
543 U.S. 220 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Bynum
604 F.3d 161 (Fourth Circuit, 2010)
Rita v. United States
551 U.S. 338 (Supreme Court, 2007)
Gall v. United States
552 U.S. 38 (Supreme Court, 2007)
United States v. King
673 F.3d 274 (Fourth Circuit, 2012)
Alleyne v. United States
133 S. Ct. 2151 (Supreme Court, 2013)
United States v. Lynn
592 F.3d 572 (Fourth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Manigan
592 F.3d 621 (Fourth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Mendoza-Mendoza
597 F.3d 212 (Fourth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Arturo Valdez
739 F.3d 1052 (Seventh Circuit, 2014)
Washington v. City of Los Angeles
568 U.S. 862 (Supreme Court, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
563 F. App'x 229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rodney-hailey-ca4-2014.