Andranik Bakhchadjian v. United States of America

Filing 6

ORDER DENYING DEFENDANTS MOTION TO CORRECT SENTENCE UNDER 28 U.S.C. 2255 1 by Judge Dean D. Pregerson, (Made JS-6. Case Terminated.) (lc). Modified on 11/3/2015 (lc).

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

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Plaintiff,

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v.

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ANDRANIK BAKHCHADJIAN,

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Defendants.
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Case No. CV 15-03505 DDP
[CR 11-00072 DDP]
ORDER DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION
TO CORRECT SENTENCE UNDER 28
U.S.C. § 2255

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Presently before the Court is Defendant/Petitioner Andranik

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Bakhchadjian’s (“Petitioner”) motion to reduce his sentence under

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28 U.S.C. § 2255.

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Court adopts the following order.

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I.

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Having considered the parties’ submissions, the

BACKGROUND
Petitioner pled guilty to one count of bank fraud under 18

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U.S.C. § 1344 and was sentenced to 110 months.

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this Court to change his sentence due to a “‘New Rule of Criminal

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Procedure’ pursuant to Proposition 47, PC 1170.18(a)-(e).”

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under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 at 5 (“Motion”).)

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California ballot initiative that reclassified certain former

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felonies into misdemeanors.

Petitioner now asks

(Motion

Proposition 47 was a

(See Gov’t Opp’n at 2.)

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Here, Petitioner claims he has filed a reclassification

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petition under Proposition 47 in California state court for a

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previous offense.

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limitations for § 2255 motions, Petitioner filed his § 2255 motion

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in this Court before the California state court resolved his

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reclassification petition.

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stay his § 2255 proceeding pending the California state court

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proceeding.

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that if the California state court reclassifies his former offense

(Motion at 5.)

Due to the one-year statute of

(Id.)

Petitioner asks this Court to

(Id. (on reverse side of page))

Petitioner alleges

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from a felony to a misdemeanor, he will then ask this Court to “re-

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calculate[] his points and change the 3 point enhancement to 1

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point for this prior charge as it will be reduced from a Felony to

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a Misdemeanor, this reducing Petitioner’s sentence to a criminal

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History Level IV instead of V.”

(Id.)

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The Government opposes this motion, arguing that even if

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Petitioner is successful in reclassifying his former offense, such

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reclassification will have no effect on his federal sentence

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because “[t]he Sentencing Guidelines assign criminal history points

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entirely without regard to whether a conviction is a felony or a

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misdemeanor.”

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the Sentencing Guidelines assign points for criminal history “based

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solely on the length of the sentence imposed.”

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according to the Government, changing Petitioner’s prior offense

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from a felony to a misdemeanor does not change the fact that

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Petitioner was given a sixteen-month sentence, which provides three

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criminal history points.

(Gov’t Opp’n at 3.)

Instead, the Government argues,

(Id.)

Thus,

(Id.)

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Petitioner contests this understanding of the Sentencing

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Guidelines, and further argues that his prior crime was non-violent
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and the trend of state and federal sentencing amendments is to

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reduce sentences for certain non-violent crimes.

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4.)

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II.

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(Pet. Reply at 2-

LEGAL STANDARD
Section 2255 allows federal prisoners to file motions to

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vacate, set aside, or correct a sentence on the ground that “the

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sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws of

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the United States, or that the court was without jurisdiction to

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impose such sentence, or that the sentence was in excess of the

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maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral

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attack[.]”

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III. DISCUSSION

28 U.S.C. § 2255(a).

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The relevant parts of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are §

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4A1.1, which provides for criminal history points to be totaled to

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determine the criminal history category, and § 4A1.2, which

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provides instructions for computing this criminal history.

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4A1.1(a) says: “Add 3 points for each prior sentence of

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imprisonment exceeding one year and one month.”

Section

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Section 4A1.2 has detailed instructions for determining what

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is a “prior sentence,” what is a “sentence of imprisonment,” what

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sentences are included in making this determination, and what is

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the applicable time period for considering past criminal history.

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Relevant here, a “prior sentence” is “any sentence previously

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imposed upon adjudication of guilt”; a “sentence of imprisonment”

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is “a sentence of incarceration and refers to the maximum sentence

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imposed”; and “[s]entences for all felony offenses are counted[;]

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[s]entences for misdemeanor and petty offenses are counted, except”

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certain named offenses as are listed in the guidelines.
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See U.S.

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Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 4A1.2(a)(1), (b)(1), (c).

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a “felony offense” is defined “[f]or the purposes of § 4A1.2(c)” as

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“any federal, state, or local offense punishable by death or a term

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of imprisonment exceeding one year, regardless of the actual

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sentence imposed.”

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felony offenses” to be counted in calculating criminal history

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points, absent some other exception.

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Id. at (o).

Further,

Subsection (c) requires “all

The plain language of these provisions control the outcome of
this motion.

According to his presentence report, Petitioner was

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convicted of receiving stolen property, a felony, and sentenced to

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sixteen months in California state court.

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104.)

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reclassified as a misdemeanor.

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regardless of whether it is a felony or misdemeanor, is a prior

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sentence of incarceration exceeding one year and one month under §

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4a1.1(a), thus resulting in three points.

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offense as a misdemeanor does not change the fact that Petitioner

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had a prior sixteen-month sentence.

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(Presentence Report ¶

This is the prior offense that Petitioner is now having
But a sixteen-month sentence,

Reclassifying the prior

Further, as defined in § 4.A1.2(o), a “felony offense” is an

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offense punishable by imprisonment of more than a year, as was

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Petitioner’s situation.

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convicted of in California was always a misdemeanor under

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California law, his sixteen-month sentence would still give him a

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“felony” and three criminal history points under the federal

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Sentencing Guidelines.

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would receive a lesser sentence as a misdemeanant, the crucial fact

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is that Petitioner was convicted previously and sentenced to

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sixteen months.

Thus, even if the offense Petitioner was

While perhaps Petitioner, if convicted now,

Therefore, the Court finds that there is no
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grounds under the Sentencing Guidelines to change Petitioner’s

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sentence.

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IV.

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CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, the Court DENIES Defendant’s

motion.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: November 3, 2015
DEAN D. PREGERSON
United States District Judge

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