United States v. Catrell

Filing

[10234759] Reversed and Remanded; Terminated on the merits after submissions without oral hearing; Written, signed, published; Judges McHugh, McKay and Baldock, authoring. Mandate to issue. [14-3044]

FILED
Appellate Case: 14-3044

Document: 01019359263

United States Court of Appeals
Date Filed: 12/22/2014 Circuit 1
Tenth Page:

December 22, 2014
PUBLISH

Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.

No. 14-3044

RONALD D. CATRELL,
Defendant-Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS
(D.C. NO. 2:11-CR-20125-CM-1)

Thomas H. Johnson, Petefish, Immel, Heeb & Hird, LLP, Lawrence, KS, for
Defendant-Appellant.
Barry R. Grissom, United States Attorney, and James A. Brown, Assistant United
States Attorney, Topeka, KS, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Before McHUGH, McKAY, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges. *

BALDOCK, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Ronald Catrell appeals his sentence, alleging: (1) a portion of the

*

After examining the briefs and the appellate record, this panel has
determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist the
determination of this appeal. See Fed. R.App. P. 34(a)(2) and 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G).
The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.

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sentence illegally exceeded a statutory maximum, and (2) the Government
vindictively insisted on a plea agreement recommending 132 months in prison. We
have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742. Although we find
no prosecutorial vindictiveness here, we must reverse and remand in order for the
district court to correct its imposition of an illegal sentence.
In late 2011, the Government filed an information in the District of Kansas
charging Defendant with various fraud-related crimes. The information was filed
with the understanding that Defendant would plead guilty. Defendant, however, fled
the jurisdiction after posting bond and was only returned to Kansas after authorities
arrested him in South Carolina in July 2012. He then entered a different, binding
plea agreement with the Government under Rule 11(c)(1)(C) of the Federal Rules of
Criminal Procedure. Per this agreement, Defendant would receive 120 months in
prison for the following crimes: bank fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1344), wire fraud (18
U.S.C. § 1343), money laundering (18 U.S.C. § 1957), and aggravated identity theft
(18 U.S.C. § 1028A). Defendant thereafter pled guilty to these four felony counts.
Before sentencing, however, and after a lengthy hearing, the district court
allowed Defendant to withdraw this guilty plea. The Government then procured an
indictment against Defendant with over a dozen new criminal counts. Within weeks,
Defendant entered into a new Rule 11(c)(1)(C) agreement with the Government.
This time, Defendant would plead guilty to the same four crimes as before and
receive 132 months in prison—a 12-month increase from the prior plea. To reach
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this total, the parties agreed to a 24-month sentence for aggravated identity theft, to
run consecutively with concurrent 108-month sentences for bank fraud, wire fraud,
and money laundering.
Defendant subsequently pled guilty and affirmed, after extensive questioning,
that he was doing so of his own free will and pursuant to the Rule 11(c)(1)(C)
agreement. He also stated that although he was surprised and disappointed with the
12-month increase, he was nevertheless requesting the 132-month sentence outlined
in the agreement; in addition, he acknowledged he would have no opportunity to ask
for a lower sentence once the court accepted the agreement. Indeed, at the change
of plea hearing alone, he affirmed his acquiescence to the 132-month sentence at
least eight separate times.

In light of the unexpected indictment, Defendant

explained, the plea agreement “is the best approach to this—to resolve this matter.”
Later, at sentencing, Defendant opined in allocution that the new indictment
was “punishment for withdrawing the [earlier guilty] plea” and that “I feel like
there’s no choice but to accept” the new plea agreement.

Upon questioning,

however, he again reiterated that he nevertheless willingly entered the agreement and
willingly pled guilty, fully aware that his sentence would be 132 months. The court
then accepted the agreement and sentenced Defendant to 132 months. In crafting the
sentence, though, the court sentenced Defendant to 54 months for aggravated identity
theft (as opposed to the 24 months set out by the parties) and 78 months for the other
three crimes (as opposed to the 108 months set out by the parties). Thus, while the
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total sentence was identical to that put forth in the Rule 11(c)(1)(C) agreement, the
math used to achieve that total was different. Neither party objected to the court’s
alternate method. Defendant now appeals his aggravated identity theft sentence. But
first, we must address his claim of prosecutorial vindictiveness.
Defendant argues the Government vindictively punished him for withdrawing
his initial guilty plea by adding 12 months to his sentence in the final Rule
11(c)(1)(C) agreement. At minimum, he argues, the Government should have to
rebut a presumption of vindictiveness on remand. We disagree. Although the parties
dispute the applicable standard of review, binding precedent forecloses Defendant’s
argument even under de novo review. Simply put, “in the ‘give-and-take’ of plea
bargaining, there is no such element of punishment or retaliation so long as the
accused is free to accept or reject the prosecution’s offer.”

United States v.

Lampley, 127 F.3d 1231, 1245 (10th Cir. 1997) (alteration omitted) (emphasis
added) (quoting Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 363 (1978)). 1
Nothing in the record indicates Defendant was forced to go along with the
132-month sentence. True, Defendant mentioned at sentencing that “I feel like
there’s no choice but to accept” the new plea agreement.

The district court

immediately pressed Defendant on this statement, though, and he reiterated—in line

1

Defendant asserts Bordenkircher is factually distinguishable, but that misses
the point; we are not relying on Bordenkircher for its precise facts, but rather for its
directly applicable statement of law regarding plea bargaining.
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with his numerous comments at the extremely thorough change-of-plea hearing—that
he had willingly entered the agreement and willingly pled guilty.

We see no

evidence in the record that indicates otherwise, so there can be no error. See United
States v. Sarracino, 340 F.3d 1148, 1179 (10th Cir. 2003) (“Sarracino made the
tactical choice to reject the plea bargain and proceed to trial. The government had
probable cause to seek the reindictment of Sarracino for second degree murder based
on the facts . . . and did so. . . . ‘A claim of vindictive prosecution cannot insulate
the defendant from the lawful consequences of his tactical choices.’” (citations
omitted)); United States v. Berger, 251 F.3d 894, 910 (10th Cir. 2001) (“[T]he fact
that the prosecutor informed the defendants that if they withdrew from their plea
agreements they would lose the benefit of the agreed-upon prison terms does not give
rise to an inference of vindictiveness . . . .”).
We now turn to Defendant’s primary contention, which is that the district court
erred by sentencing him to 54 months for aggravated identity theft. The Government
concedes error on this point, and rightly so. Aggravated identity theft under 18
U.S.C. § 1028A requires a “term of imprisonment of 2 years”—no more, no less.
See id. § 1028A(a)(1); United States v. Dooley, 688 F.3d 318, 319 (7th Cir. 2012)
(“Section 1028A has an unusual penalty provision. Every conviction under that
statute is punished by exactly two years in prison.”). The parties differ, however, in
what they think we should do about this error.
After initially moving for remand so the error could be corrected, the
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Government now asserts we could affirm under plain error review because the
district court would have been required to sentence Defendant to 132 months under
any method of calculation. But in United States v. Gonzalez-Huerta, 403 F.3d 727
(10th Cir. 2005) (en banc), we stated otherwise on this very issue. Per GonzalezHuerta, we view a prison sentence exceeding a statutory maximum as an “illegal
sentence” that “trigger[s] per se, reversible, plain error.” Id. at 739 n.10 (emphasis
added); see also United States v. Barwig, 568 F.3d 852, 858 (10th Cir. 2009) (“A
sentence that exceeds the statutory maximum is an illegal sentence . . . and an illegal
sentence is per se reversible even under plain error review.”). Going even further,
in United States v. Moyer, 282 F.3d 1311 (10th Cir. 2002), we held “the imposition
of an illegal sentence constitutes plain error even if the sentence favors the
defendant.” Id. at 1319. If an illegal sentence favoring a defendant is plain error,
then surely the sentence here qualifies.
The Government fails to confront the above case law. Rather, citing cases
expounding on plain error more generally, it insists plain error review allows us to
affirm if a defendant could not have received a lower sentence absent the error. The
Government also cites a case where the Eighth Circuit declined to find plain error
in a similar circumstance. See United States v. Bossany, 678 F.3d 603, 606 (8th Cir.
2012) (“Mr. Bossany contends for the first time on appeal that his 90-month sentence
for conspiracy exceeds the five-year (60-month) statutory maximum . . . and we
agree. . . .

Though the error is plain, we conclude that it did not affect Mr.
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Bossany’s substantial rights . . . . Regardless of the error, Mr. Bossany would have
been sentenced to 90 months in prison . . . .”). As reasonable as this approach may
be, however, we must follow a different path. Per our precedent, the district court
clearly gave Defendant an “illegal sentence” for aggravated identity theft, and we
must remand for this plain error to be corrected. See United States v. Brooks, 751
F.3d 1204, 1209 (10th Cir. 2014) (“Absent en banc consideration, we generally
‘cannot overturn the decision of another panel of this court.’” (citation omitted)).
But that does not end our discussion, for now we must determine what—if
any—instructions to give the district court on remand. Defendant asks us to instruct
the court to correct its error on the aggravated identity theft count without touching
the other counts. If we were to do this, Defendant would receive 24 months for
aggravated identity theft and 102 months total, rather than 132 months.

Our

“sentencing package doctrine” counsels in the other direction, however. Under this
doctrine, a “sentencing package . . . takes into account all counts upon which the
defendant has been convicted. When one of these counts is set aside or vacated, the
district court is free to reconsider the sentencing package de novo . . . .” Ward v.
Williams, 240 F.3d 1238, 1243 (10th Cir. 2001) (quoting United States v. Smith, 116
F.3d 857, 859 (10th Cir. 1997)). Defendant puts forth several arguments for why
this doctrine is inapplicable; none are persuasive.
First, Defendant argues the sentencing package doctrine only applies when a
conviction has been vacated, as opposed to just a sentence. Certainly, we have
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offhandedly mentioned that the doctrine applies “[w]hen one of these counts is set
aside . . . .” Id. (emphasis added) (quoting Smith, 116 F.3d at 859). This language
is best viewed as descriptive rather than prescriptive, however; indeed, in Ward
itself, after describing the sentencing package doctrine in these words, we applied
the doctrine to a situation where a state court vacated and corrected its “illegal
sentence” without vacating any underlying convictions. Id. at 1243–44. Thus, Ward
counsels directly against Defendant on this argument.
Second, Defendant argues the sentencing package doctrine only applies to
sentences crafted pursuant to the Sentencing Guidelines, as opposed to plea
agreements under Rule 11(c)(1)(C). This argument fails for precisely the same
reason as the first. That is, our statement in Ward that a “sentence under the U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines constitutes a sentencing package,” id. at 1243 (emphasis
added) (quoting Smith, 116 F.3d at 859), is again clearly descriptive rather than
prescriptive because in that very case we approved of the doctrine’s use in a New
Mexico state court proceeding from 1995 that almost certainly was not conducted
pursuant to the federal Guidelines. Id. at 1243–44. Moreover, Defendant cites no
case law supporting his argument that the sentencing package doctrine should not
apply to a sentence doled out pursuant to a Rule 11(c)(1)(C) agreement.
Finally, Defendant contends the “essential difference” between his situation
and Ward is that he was sentenced pursuant to a contract (i.e. the plea agreement)
that should be interpreted against the drafter of the contract (i.e. the Government).
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And per the contract, Defendant asserts, the Government should have appealed the
sentences for the three non-aggravated identity theft counts if it was dissatisfied. By
failing to do so, Defendant argues, the Government waived any right to have these
sentences revisited on remand. In an apparent effort to deny that he would receive
a windfall under this view, Defendant contends, inter alia, that the agreement did
“explicitly recognize[]” the possibility of a sentence below 132 months.
This latter assertion is utterly without merit. Defendant’s Rule 11(c)(1)(C)
plea agreement explicitly “propose[d] . . . a total term of imprisonment of 132
months,” Exhibit A, Aple’s Br. at 4–5, and this proposal bound the court once it
accepted the plea agreement. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(C). In addition, the 132month total was affirmed by Defendant himself nearly a dozen times at his changeof-plea and sentencing hearings. Even on appeal Defendant cannot keep his story
straight; rather, he contradictorily acknowledges elsewhere in his briefs that the plea
agreement “recommended” a sentence of 132 months and that he “reasonably
understood . . . he would be sentenced to 132 months.”

Indeed, his entire

vindictiveness argument is based on the fact that the Government insisted on 132
months in the new plea agreement. 2 Defendant can in no way prevail on this issue.

2

Even if we ignored Defendant’s numerous admissions, his sole argument on
this point is baseless. Defendant contends explicit authorization for a lower sentence
came from the waiver section of the plea agreement, which states that he still had the
right to appeal any above-Guidelines departure by the district court. As odd as this
language may be, it in no way authorizes the court to reject the parties’ unequivocal
(continued...)
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Furthermore, Defendant’s assertion that the Government is not entitled to resentencing on contractual grounds does not affect the sentencing packaging doctrine,
which focuses on allowing the district court to resentence in order to carry out its
original intent, regardless of the parties’ machinations. See Ward, 240 F.3d at 1243
(emphasizing “the importance of allowing district courts to resentence in order to
carry out [their] original sentencing intent” (quoting United States v. Hicks, 146 F.3d
1198, 1202 (10th Cir. 1998))). In the end, we will not force the court to disregard
its original intent and the binding plea deal. 3 The court is free on remand to
resentence on all counts in accordance with the agreement.
REVERSED and REMANDED.

2

(...continued)
sentence recommendation from a few paragraphs earlier, which, again, “binds the
court once the court accepts the plea agreement.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(C).
3

We also note the irony of Defendant’s arguing that we should penalize the
Government for failing to object to the sentence below while simultaneously arguing
that we should remand even though he failed to object to the sentence below.
10