United States v. Rohde

989 F. Supp. 1151, 1997 WL 809551
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedDecember 4, 1997
DocketNo. 2:97-CR-0200
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 989 F. Supp. 1151 (United States v. Rohde) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Rohde, 989 F. Supp. 1151, 1997 WL 809551 (D. Utah 1997).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

J. THOMAS GREENE, District Judge.

This matter came before the court on defendant’s Motion to Dismiss the pending Indictment for perjury on the grounds that it seeks to put the defendant twice in jeopardy for the same offense in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Plaintiff was represented by Brooke C. Wells, Assistant United States Attorney, and defendant was represented by James D. Gil-son and Stephen K. Christiansen of Van Cott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy. After oral argument, the motions were taken under advisement. Being fully advised, the court now enters its Memorandum Decision and Order.

FACTS

On February 14, 1997, defendant Arlene Elizabeth Rohde entered a plea of guilty to bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) and carrying a firearm during the course of the commission of a violent felony in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). Defendant’s plea of guilty was accepted by U.S. District Judge Dee Benson after execution and filing of a Statement in Advance of Plea of Guilty. In that document defendant admitted having planned the bank robbery with Paul Bradford Jones and Tracy Linn Brown, that Jones “cased” the bank prior to the robbery, and that defendant Rohde carried a firearm provided by Jones and Brown during the course of the robbery. These facts were also admitted under oath orally, and defendant admitted as well that she carried the gun in her jacket pocket, that the gun was small and that she believed it to be loaded.

[1153]*1153Prior to sentencing, defendant Rohde was subpoenaed and testified as a government witness at the trial of defendant Paul Bradford Jones in case No. l^-CR-OOe.1 During the initial portion of her trial testimony, defendant Rohde reiterated the facts set forth above. However, during the second day of her testimony, defendant rescinded her earlier sworn testimony and testified that she had earlier lied to the court concerning her own criminal activities and the knowledge and participation of Jones. She then testified that Jones knew nothing of the bank robbery, that he did not provide any weapon, and that he only went into the bank to secure change and did not share in the proceeds of the robbery. She .further testified that she did not carry a gun into the bank.

At her sentencing hearing on June 16, 1997, under a new Indictment in Case No. 95-CR-18B which had been filed after she was dismissed as a defendant in the original robbery Indictment, defendant Rohde admitted that she had changed her testimony in an effort to help Jones because she believed Jones should not be faced with a “Three-Strikes and You’re Out” sentence. Judge Benson increased defendant’s guideline range by two levels and enhanced the sentence for obstruction of justice “for lying on that witness stand.”

On June 19, 1997, defendant Rohde was indicted in the instant case for perjury in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1621.

The issue presented is whether the pending Indictment and prosecution of defendant Rohde for having committed perjury in the Jones robbery trial amounts to the same offense as the sentencing enhancement imposed at her sentencing hearing for lying on the witness stand, in violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

ANALYSIS

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. provides that no person shall “be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” U.S. Const. Amend. Y. Judge Benson enhanced Ms. Rohde’s sentence imposed in her robbery Indictment case because of obstruction of justice under § 3C1.1 of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for the commission of perjury. This section of the Guidelines provides: .

If the defendant willfully obstructed' or impeded, or attempted to obstruct or impede, the administration of justice during the investigation, prosecution, or sentencing of the instant offense, increase the offense level by 2 levels. (Emphasis added).

The commission of perjury is an example of when this enhancement. applies. See U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1, Application Notes Commentary, note 3(b) (1997).2

Sentencing Enhancements Under § 1B1.3 for Relevant Conduct

Recently the Supreme Court considered the issue of whether later prosecution for conduct used as a basis for enhancement of a sentence under the “relevant conduct” provisions of § 1B1.3 of the Sentencing Guidelines violated the double jeopardy clause.3 In [1154]*1154Witte v. United States, 515 U.S. 389, 115 S.Ct. 2199, 132 L.Ed.2d 351 (1995), defendant Witte had unknowingly arranged two drug shipments with an undercover agent of the Drug Enforcement Agency. The first involved a shipment of cocaine from Guatemala in August of 1990 and the second involved a shipment of marijuana in January of 1991. Witte was indicted solely on the marijuana transaction. He plead guilty to attempted possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The statute provides that a sentence for such a crime involving 100 grams or more of marijuana must be between 5 and 40 years. The District Court concluded at the sentencing hearing that the 1990 cocaine importation offenses were part of the same “relevant conduct” under § 1B1.3 of the Guidelines, so the judge aggregated the quantities of drugs involved in the 1990 and 1991 episodes. Without the aggregation, if the sentencing judge had only considered the marijuana conviction, the Guidelines range would have been 78 to 97 months. When the cocaine offenses were considered in the calculation, the new Guideline range was 292 to 365 months,4 which still falls within the statutorily authorized penalty of 5-40 years. The Supreme Court held that when operating within a statutory range, a resulting sentence within that range constitutes punishment only for the offense of conviction for purposes of double jeopardy analysis, stating:

... a particular offense should receive a more serious sentence within the authorized range if it was either accompanied by or preceded by additional criminal activity.

Id. at 403, 115 S.Ct. at 2208. (Emphasis added). The court then allowed the prosecution for the cocaine offense to go forward.

As further support for its holding, the court noted that § 5G1.3 of the Guidelines operates to mitigate the possibility of two separate prosecutions which would “grossly increase a defendant’s sentence.” Id. at 405, 115 S.Ct. at 2208-09. This section of the guidelines provides that if a defendant is serving an undischarged term “result[ing] from offense(s) that have been fully taken into account [as relevant conduct] in the determination of the offense level for the instant offense,” then the “sentence for the instant offense shall be imposed to run concurrently to the undischarged term of imprisonment.” § 5G1.3.

The Supreme Court in Witte

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Related

United States v. Rohde
Tenth Circuit, 1998
United States v. Arlene Elizabeth Rohde
159 F.3d 1298 (Tenth Circuit, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
989 F. Supp. 1151, 1997 WL 809551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rohde-utd-1997.