United States v. Simmonds

235 F.3d 826, 43 V.I. 305, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 33353
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 2000
DocketNo. 99-3524
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 235 F.3d 826 (United States v. Simmonds) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Simmonds, 235 F.3d 826, 43 V.I. 305, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 33353 (3d Cir. 2000).

Opinions

OPINION OF THE COURT

Joseph Emmett Simmonds, III, pled guilty in the District Court of the Virgin Islands to one count of arson in violation of federal law and to one count of burglary in violation of Virgin Islands territorial law. Simmonds contends on appeal that the District Court: (1) miscalculated the appropriate amount of restitution by including the value of the victims’ lost insurance premium discounts and the depreciation attributable to the victims’ furniture in its restitution order, (2) abused its discretion by ordering him to serve consecutive (rather than concurrent) sentences for his crimes, and (3) committed plain error by consulting the Pre-Sentence Investigation Reports of his co-defendants before sentencing him. For the reasons detailed below, we will reverse the District Court’s restitution order with respect to the inclusion of the victims’ lost insurance premium discounts, but we will affirm the District Court’s decision in all other respects.

I. FACTS

On September 16, 1998, Simmonds, along with five other men, drove to the Peterborg area of St. Thomas, intending to burglarize the house located at 11-22 Peterborg. Simmonds and his five co-defendants cased the house and, after concluding that the residents were not at home, cut the alarm system wiring which activated both an audible alarm within the home and an alert at ADT Security Systems, the monitoring company. All but one of the men then entered the house through a partially open window.1

[307]*307While searching the house for items to steal, one of the men, Adaryll Gumbs, came upon the credentials of Assistant U.S. Attorney Curtis Gomez and realized that the house belonged to Gomez. Gumbs recognized Gomez’s name because Gomez had prosecuted Gumbs in a robbery case that was still pending in the Virgin Islands Territorial Couxt. On discovering that the house belonged to Gomez, Gumbs and Simmonds searched the house for docuxnents pertaining to the case against Gumbs. After an unsuccessful search, Gumbs and Simmonds decided to set the house on fire. Gumbs directed the other three men to leave the house and turned on the gas stove without igniting the burners. Gumbs and Simmonds then cut up a couch and set the couch on fire. All six xnen fled the scene. Gomez and St. Thomas police officers, responding to notification of the alarm from ADT, arrived in time to observe the suspects fleeing the scene.

All six suspects were eventually arrested. Simmonds was arrested on November 9, 1998. During questioning, Simmonds confessed to his involvement in the burglaxy and the arson and gave the police a statement implicating the other five men. Simmonds was charged with arson in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i), carrying a firearm during the commission of a violent crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1), and possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3). He was also charged with burglary in violation of territorial law, 14 V.I.C. § 444. In exchange for Simmonds’ pleading guilty to arson and burglary, the government dropped the other charges against him and agreed to recommend to the sentencing couxt a downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility. On May 18, 1999, Simmonds was sentenced to 97 months in prison for violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i) (arson) and a consecutive sentence of 5 years in prison for violation of 14 V.I.C. § 444 (burglary). Simmonds was also ordered to pay restitution to the victims in the amount of $ 20,000. Simmonds appealed the sentence imposed.

II. JURISDICTION & STANDARD OF REVIEW

The District Court of the Virgin Islands had subject matter jurisdiction in this case pursuant to 48 U.S.C. § 1612, which grants the District Court for the Virgin Islands concurrent jurisdiction over criminal matters that involve violations of both federal and territorial law. We have appellate jurisdiction [308]*308pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), which grant us the power to review on appeal certain federal sentencing decisions.

We review a restitution order “under a bifurcated standard: plenary review as to whether restitution is permitted by law, and abuse of discretion as to the appropriateness of the particular award.” United States v. Crandon, 173 F.3d 122, 125 (3d Cir. 1999). With respect to Simmonds’s claim that the District Court erred by awarding the “replacement value” of the destroyed furniture, we apply plenary review to the issue of whether “value” includes “replacement value.” See United States v. Shugart, 176 F.3d 1373, 1375 (11th Cir. 1999). If we determine that “replacement value” is permitted under the statute, we then review the District Court’s factual basis for choosing “replacement value,” as opposed to “market value,” for abuse of discretion. See id.

With respect to Simmonds’s contention that as a matter of law the District Court erred by including in its restitution order the value of the victims’ lost “clean renewal discount” and “no claim discount” from their insurance premiums, we exercise plenary review. See Crandon, 173 F.3d at 125.

We review the District Court’s decision to impose a consecutive, rather than a concurrent, sentence for abuse of discretion. See, e.g., United States v. Spiers, 82 F.3d 1274, 1277 (3d Cir. 1996). The issue underlying that decision, however, i.e., whether the Sentencing Guidelines apply to the overall sentence imposed when a defendant is sentenced simultaneously for a territorial and a federal offense, is an issue of law and our review is plenary.

Finally, because Simmonds did not contemporaneously object to the District Court’s decision to consult his co-defendants’ Pre-Sentence Investigation Reports at sentencing, our review is for plain error. See e.g, United States v. Knobloch, 131 F.3d 366, 370 (3d Cir. 1997).

HE. DISCUSSION

A. The District Court’s Restitution Order

Pursuant to the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (the “MVRA”), codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3663A, the District Court ordered Simmonds to pay $20,000 as his share of the restitution owed to the victims and to the victims’ insurance company. The District Court concluded that the total loss resulting from the criminal acts in question was $76,454. The court arrived at this sum based on information contained in Simmonds’s PreSentence Investigation Report. The victims’ insurance company paid a total [309]

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Bluebook (online)
235 F.3d 826, 43 V.I. 305, 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 33353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-simmonds-ca3-2000.