At page 483 Analyzing double counting of sentencing enhancements17 citing casesholding that it was appropriate to enhance the defendant’s sentence under several different guidelines for his conduct in engaging in a shoot-out with police followed by his reckless driving during flight from a bank robbery
- United States v. Jamaal Mays, 967 F.3d 748 (8th Cir. 2020).publishedSections 2B3.1(b)(2) and (b)(3) are offense characteristics that “respond[] to a separate aspect of [the defendant’s] conduct: § 2B3.1(b)(2)(A) that he fired at a person, § 2B3.1(b)(3)(B) that the shot seriously injured the target.” United…
- United States v. Shane Roush, 527 F. App'x 349 (6th Cir. 2013).unpublishedCf United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir.1994) (citing United States v. Mills, 1 F.3d 414 (6th Cir.1993)) (finding § 3C1.2’s enhancement applicable where the defendant endangered civilians by engaging in a parking lot shootout…
- United States v. Duncan, 311 F. Supp. 2d 757 (N.D. Ind. 2004).publishedThe Government admits that both enhancements cannot be applied for the same conduct, shooting at Hobbs, citing United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir.1994).
- United States v. Gillyard, 261 F.3d 506 (5th Cir. 2001).published(applying both the enhancements in § 3A1.2(b) and § 3C1.2 because the defendant led the police on a chase endangering others before shooting at and hitting a police officer)
- United States v. Carl L. Ledford, 218 F.3d 684 (7th Cir. 2000).published As our opinion in United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir.1994), recognizes, section 2B3.1(b)(2) focuses on the use of the firearm (or another dangerous weapon), without regard to whether or not injury results.
- United States v. Ledford, Carl L., No. 99-1648 (7th Cir. June 27, 2000).published As our opinion in United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir. 1994), recognizes, section 2B3.1(b)(2) focuses on the use of the firearm (or another dangerous weapon), without regard to whether or not injury results.
- United States v. Carlos Hernandez-Sandoval, 211 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2000).publishedCf. United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir.1994).
- United States v. Tabari A. Spann, No. 99-4398 (4th Cir. Oct. 20, 1999).unpublished(high-speed chase in which three officers shot and public endangered)
- United States v. Matos-Rodriguez, 188 F.3d 1300 (11th Cir. 1999).published Second, as the Seventh Circuit observed in United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir. 1994), the Fourth Circuit’s gratuitous pronouncement in Sloley simply “is wrong.” The fourth circuit quoted from comment 1 to § 3C1.2, which say…
- United States v. Mark Eric Hayes, 135 F.3d 435 (6th Cir. 1998).published(no double counting where defendant, following bank robbery, shot at an officer, engaged the police in a high speed chase through a populated area, and instigated a shootout in a McDonald’s parking lot)
Show 5 more citing cases
- United States v. Gerald Miner, 108 F.3d 967 (8th Cir. 1997).publishedSee Guidelines §§ 3A1.2(b), 3C1.2; United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir.1994).
- United States v. Jefferey Sorensen, 58 F.3d 1154 (7th Cir. 1995).publishedSee U.S.S.G. § 3A1.2(b); United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir.1994).
- United States v. Rodney White, 222 F.3d 363 (7th Cir. 2000).published (holding that it was appropriate to enhance the defendant’s sentence under several different guidelines for his conduct in engaging in a shoot-out with police followed by his reckless driving during flight from a bank ro…)
- United States v. Troy D. Jones, 145 F.3d 736 (5th Cir. 1998).publishedSee United States v. Swoape, 31 F.3d 482, 483 (7th Cir.1994); United States v. Muhammad, 948 F.2d 1449, 1458 (6th Cir.1991).
- United States v. Bobby Perkins, 89 F.3d 303 (6th Cir. 1996).published(upholding cumulative enhancements under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(2)(A) based on the defendant’s firing a shotgun in the course of fleeing a bank robbery, under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(3)(B) based on the fact that the gunshot ser…)
Other citing cases
- United States v. Kurt Eugene Latimer, United States of Am. v. Linwood Paul Pittman, 46 F.3d 1128 (4th Cir. 1995).unpublished
- United States v. Zater, 25 F. App'x 112 (4th Cir. 2001).unpublished
v.
Charles Bret SWOAPE, Defendant-Appellant
C. Bret Swoape entered a bank, leveled a shotgun at a teller, and demanded money. He directed all of the bank’s employees to lie on the floor, leapt the counter, and scooped up more than $12,500 before fleeing in a stolen car. Soon he switched to another stolen car, which loses the police in the movies but not always in real life. A police car took up pursuit, caught Swoape at a roadblock, and pushed his car into a ditch. Swoape bounded out, shot the officer, and got his ear back under way. By now several additional patrol cars were in the hunt. After a high-speed chase through a populated area, an officer rammed Swoape’s car, which swerved into the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant. There Swoape made a stand, firing his shotgun and hitting two more officers. Before he could reload, the remaining officers took him into custody. The three wounded officers lived, but one has permanent injuries. Swoape pleaded guilty to armed bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), (d), and'was sentenced to 212 months’ imprisonment.
The base offense level for robbery is 20. U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(a). The district[*483] judge added two levels because Swoape robbed a financial institution, § 2B3.1(b)(l), seven levels because he discharged a firearm, § 2B3.1(b)(2)(A), four levels because this inflicted serious bodily injury, § 2B3.1(b)(3)(B), and one level because the loss exceeded $10,-000, § 2B3.1(b)(6)(B). That brought the offense level to 34 within the confines of § 2B3.1. Then the district judge added levels from two generally applicable guidelines: three levels from § 3A1.2(b) because Swoape assaulted a person whom he knew to be a law enforcement officer, and two levels from § 3C1.2 because Swoape “recklessly created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person in the course of fleeing from a law enforcement officer”. Deducting three offense levels for acceptance of responsibility, § 3El.l(b), left a total of 36, which, combined with a criminal history category of I, produced a presumptive sentencing range of 188-235 months. Swoape believes that this is at least two levels too high — that the two point addition under § 3C1.2 is double counting. An offense level of 34 would mean a range of 151-188 months and a substantially lower sentence. Swoape relies on United States v. Sloley, 19 F.3d 149, 154 (4th Cir.1994), which opined that “[i]f both § 3A1.2(b) and § 3C1.2 apply to a defendant, the court must apply only the former and increase the offense level by three levels.”
This sentence is dictum because the district judge in Sloley had applied only § 3A1.2(b). The fourth circuit therefore did not need to consider whether it would have been possible to add two levels under § 3C1.2. The sentence also is wrong. The fourth circuit quoted from comment 1 to § 3C1.2, which says: “Do not apply this enhancement where ... another adjustment in Chapter Three ... results in an equivalent or greater increase in offense level solely on the basis of the same conduct.” The Sentencing Commission included a vital qualifier — “solely on the basis of the same conduct” — that disappeared from the fourth circuit’s summary of its conclusion. It is the Sentencing Commission’s understanding of its rules, and not an incomplete summary by a court of appeals, that governs here. Stinson v. United States, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 1913, 123 L.Ed.2d 598 (1993). Swoape drew the three-level enhancement under § 3A1.2(b) because he shot three police officers. He received the two-level enhancement under § 3C1.2 because during the chase he recklessly endangered many civilians — motorists along the route plus bystanders during the shootout in the parking lot. This is different conduct, making cumulative adjustments appropriate. See United States v. Mills, 1 F.3d 414 (6th Cir.1993). Swoape would have received 37 offense levels had he surrendered immediately after shooting the first officer. His further conduct, including another high-speed chase, shooting two more officers, and subjecting bystanders to danger from both reckless driving and shotgun discharges, produced only another two levels. This is not double counting. His contention that the enhancement under § 3A1.2(b) should not have been combined with other enhancements is even less persuasive. Each enhancement responded to a separate aspect of his conduct: § 2B3.1(b)(2)(A) that he fired at a person, § 2B3.1(b)(3)(B) that the shot seriously injured the target, and § 3A1.2(b) that he knew this target to be a peace officer.
Swoape has gotten off easily. The district court readily could have departed upward on the ground that the calculation under the Guidelines did not account for two of the three officers he wounded. Instead the judge imposed a sentence 23 months below the maximum for the level 36 range. Swoape has been sentenced to 40 years by Illinois for the attacks on the police, but the state will give credit for time served in federal prison. Good time credits will reduce the state sentence to a little less than 20 years. Because Swoape is eligible for parole from the state sentence, he may be released from state custody for these events before his federal sentence has expired. (Release will just transfer custody to a different sentence; he has recently pleaded guilty to a murder unrelated to this robbery.) Swoape has no legitimate complaint.
Affirmed.