United States v. AnthonyUnited States v. Anthony
PUBLISH
FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
Christopher M. Wolpert
Clerk of Court
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
(D.C. Nos. 5:20-CV-00527-C & 5:15-CR-00126-C-5)
Curtis A. Anthony, Pro Se.
Dean Sanderford, Assistant Federal Public Defender (Virginia L. Grady, Federal Public Defender, with him on the briefs), Office of the Federal Public Defender, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant.
Steven W. Creager, Assistant United States Attorney (Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney, and K. McKenzie Anderson, Assistant United States Attorney, with him on the brief), Office of United States Attorney, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, MATHESON, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges.
A federal prisoner has one year to file a motion under
This appeal addresses an open question: when does the judgment of conviction become final in a deferred restitution case? In Curtis Anthony‘s case, the district court sentenced him to a custodial sentence shortly after trial but did not determine the restitution amount until several months later. When Anthony later filed a
We conclude that a judgment of conviction is not final for
We therefore REVERSE the district court‘s order dismissing Anthony‘s
I. Background
After a jury convicted Curtis Anthony of child sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking, the trial court sentenced Anthony to a term of imprisonment and a term of supervised release. On October 26, 2017, the district court entered a judgment containing Anthony‘s convictions and sentence. The judgment noted that Anthony must make restitution but that the determination of restitution would be deferred until a later date. Several months later, on March 5, 2018, the district court amended the initial judgment to include the amount of restitution Anthony had to pay.
On March 16, 2018, Anthony‘s attorney timely filed a notice of appeal challenging only the amount of restitution imposed by the amended judgment. Anthony claims that he told his attorney he wanted to appeal the conviction and custodial sentence but that his attorney nevertheless decided to limit the appeal to the restitution order.
While his restitution appeal was pending, Anthony filed a motion pursuant to
On June 8, 2020, while the remanded restitution proceedings were pending, Anthony filed another motion under
The district court dismissed Anthony‘s second
The district court reasoned that Anthony‘s judgment of conviction became final when the time for filing an appeal of the initial judgment—containing Anthony‘s convictions and custodial sentence but not the restitution amount—expired. As the district court explained, the initial judgment was entered by the court on October 26, 2017. And because Anthony did not appeal that judgment within the 14-day timeframe set forth in
In dismissing Anthony‘s motion, the court acknowledged that Anthony properly filed an appeal but that the “appeal challenged only the amount of restitution—an issue not raised in the [
Anthony appealed, arguing that his motion was not untimely because his judgment of conviction had yet to become final due to the ongoing restitution proceedings. We granted Anthony a certificate of appealability on the question of whether the district court incorrectly applied the one-year statute of limitations under
II. Analysis
To determine whether Anthony‘s motion was timely, we must interpret
The district court concluded that Anthony‘s judgment of conviction became final for
To decide whether the district court erred, we must apply the requirements of
We review these questions de novo. United States v. Denny, 694 F.3d 1185, 1189 (10th Cir. 2012).
A. Restitution as Part of the Sentence
It is undisputed that the “judgment of conviction” includes the defendant‘s sentence as well as his conviction. See Berman v. United States, 302 U.S. 211, 212 (1937) (“Final judgment in a criminal case means sentence. The sentence is the judgment.“). Though Congress did not define “judgment of conviction” in
While the parties agree that the judgment of conviction includes the sentence, the parties disagree about whether restitution is part of the sentence. The government contends that restitution is not part of the sentence but rather a sanction that is imposed in addition to the sentence.
We conclude that restitution is a component of a criminal sentence and therefore included in the judgment of conviction. Our conclusion is based on the restitution statutes and Supreme Court precedent, both of which treat restitution as part of the defendant‘s sentence.
The federal restitution statutes generally refer to restitution as being part of the criminal sentence. For instance, the statute setting forth the procedures for issuing an order of restitution states that a ”sentence that imposes an order of restitution is a final judgment” even though “such a sentence” can later be corrected, appealed, amended, or adjusted.
In the same vein, the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) describes the determination of restitution as part of the “sentencing process” and authorizes courts to forgo ordering restitution if determining the amount of the victim‘s losses would “complicate or prolong the sentencing process to a degree that the need to provide restitution to any victim is outweighed by the burden on the sentencing process.”
The government argues restitution is not a part of the sentence but rather a sanction that is imposed in addition to the sentence. The government directs us to
The government misreads
Any uncertainty surrounding
The Supreme Court has similarly observed that while the primary purpose of restitution is to make victims whole, restitution also “serves punitive purposes.” Paroline v. United States, 572 U.S. 434, 456 (2014); see also Pasquantino v. United States, 544 U.S. 349, 365 (2005) (“The purpose of awarding restitution in this action is not to collect a foreign tax, but to mete out appropriate criminal punishment for that conduct.“); Kelly v. Robinson, 479 U.S. 36, 49 n.10 (1986) (“[T]he direct relation between the harm and the punishment gives restitution a more precise deterrent effect than a traditional fine.“).5
Restitution resembles other components of a criminal sentence in that it is “imposed by the Government ‘at the culmination of a criminal proceeding and requires conviction of an underlying’ crime.” Paroline, 572 U.S. at 456 (quoting United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 328 (1998)); see also id. (“[D]espite the differences between restitution and a traditional fine, restitution still implicates the prosecutorial powers of government[.]“) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Like the other portions of a sentence, restitution is intended to some degree to inflict criminal punishment and serve as a deterrent. The Supreme Court‘s treatment of restitution as a method of imposing criminal punishment rather than solely performing a restorative function supports our conclusion that restitution is a component of the criminal sentence.6
Our conclusion that restitution is part of the sentence also conforms with the realities of the sentencing process. When a trial court defers ordering restitution until after sentencing, the court does not enter a separate judgment
with the restitution amount. Instead, the court amends the initial judgment containing the defendant‘s conviction and sentence so that all the defendant is left with is a single judgment containing the entire sentence.7 The district court here acted in accordance with this standard practice. When the court sentenced Anthony to imprisonment and supervised release, it noted on the same judgment form that Anthony “must make restitution” but that the “determination of restitution is deferred until a later date.” Supp. R., Vol. 1 at 8, 11. When the district court determined Anthony‘s restitution amount several months later, the court did not enter a separate judgment imposing restitution—rather, it amended the original judgment containing the initial sentence to include the restitution amount. Id. at 18–19. This shows that, in practice and in Anthony‘s case, restitution is more accurately treated as part of the judgment of conviction.8
For these reasons, we conclude that restitution is part of the criminal sentence. And because restitution is included in the sentence, it is necessarily part of the judgment of conviction for
B. Finality in Deferred Restitution Cases
We turn now to the next question: if restitution is part of the judgment of conviction, has Anthony‘s judgment of conviction become final? As we explain below, a judgment of conviction becomes final for
1. Finality Under § 2255(f)(1)
“Finality is variously defined; like many legal terms, its precise meaning depends on context.” Clay v. United States, 537 U.S. 522, 527 (2003). In the context of
As we explained above, it is settled law that the judgment of conviction is not final until the sentence is final. See Berman, 302 U.S. at 212 (“Final judgment in a criminal case means sentence. The sentence is the judgment.“); Burton, 549 U.S. at 156–57 (explaining the defendant‘s one-year limitations period under AEDPA “did not begin until both his conviction and sentence became final“) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted); see also Corey v. United States, 375 U.S. 169, 176 (1963). If any part of the sentence—including restitution—has not been finalized, then the judgment of conviction is not final. This means that a remand for resentencing delays finality until the defendant is resentenced and direct review of the new sentence is complete.9 United States v. Carbajal-Moreno, 332 F. App‘x 472, 474–75 (10th Cir. 2009) (unpublished) (“[A] case on remand for resentencing [is] not final for purposes of habeas proceedings . . . until the resentencing and the direct appeal thereof [are] complete.“) (citing Burton, 549 U.S. at 156).
Applying these principles to the facts at hand, we conclude that Anthony‘s
restitution had yet to be determined. When the district court entered the restitution amount on March 5, 2018, Anthony appealed the restitution portion of his sentence. Anthony‘s appeal further delayed the finality of the judgment of conviction for
After we vacated the district court‘s first restitution order, the district court entered a second amended judgment with a new restitution amount, which the government appealed. Like Anthony‘s appeal of the first amended judgment, the government‘s appeal postponed the finality of Anthony‘s judgment of conviction.
The district court concluded the deferred restitution order and remand for resentencing did not “extend” Anthony‘s limitations period. R., Vol. 6 at 58. The government similarly characterizes the issue in this case as whether a deferred restitution order “restarts” the limitations period. Aple. Br. at 10. The issue before us is not whether Anthony‘s
The government‘s argument that Anthony‘s judgment of conviction has already become final is twofold. The government argues (1) there were two final judgments in Anthony‘s case, and (2) because the second judgment containing only the restitution order is not subject to collateral attack, the first judgment must be the judgment of conviction for
We begin with the government‘s argument that there were two final judgments in this case based on Manrique. In Manrique, like here, the district court entered an initial judgment without determining the amount of restitution. Id. at 1270. The defendant timely appealed the initial judgment and the court later entered an amended judgment with the restitution amount. Id. Although the defendant never appealed the amended judgment, the defendant attempted to challenge the restitution amount through his earlier appeal of the initial judgment. Id. at 1270–71. The defendant claimed that his appeal of the initial judgment “springs forward” to appeal the amended judgment imposing restitution. Id. at 1272. The Supreme Court rejected this argument and held that the defendant forfeited his right to challenge the restitution order because he failed to file a notice of appeal from that order. Id.
Relevant here, the Court also rejected the defendant‘s argument that in a deferred restitution case, there is only one “judgment” as that term is used in Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4. See
The government relies on Manrique to argue that there were two final judgments in Anthony‘s case—the first being the conviction and initial sentence and the second being the restitution order. While it is true that there are two final judgments in deferred
This difference between the direct appeal context and AEDPA context can be seen in the text of the applicable statutes.
For this reason, it does not matter that restitution is not subject to collateral attack. See Erlandson v. Northglenn Mun. Ct., 528 F.3d 785, 788 (10th Cir. 2008) (holding the payment of restitution on its own is not a “significant restraint on liberty” contemplated in the custody requirement of the federal habeas statutes). Nor does it matter that Anthony never appealed his conviction or initial sentence within the 14-day window. Because there is only one judgment of conviction for
The government‘s application of Manrique to the
On appeal, the defendant argued that he had to file his first petition before the state review of his sentencing claims was complete because if he did not, he risked losing the opportunity to collaterally attack his conviction due to AEDPA‘s one-year statute of limitations. Id. at 156. The Supreme Court rejected this argument, explaining that the defendant‘s AEDPA limitations period “did not begin until both his conviction and sentence ‘became final by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review.‘” Id. at 156–57 (quoting
Because we conclude that restitution is part of the sentence and direct review of the restitution amount is pending, we hold that Anthony‘s AEDPA limitations period has not commenced.11 Thus,
2. Appeals in Deferred Restitution Cases
We turn now to the final unresolved issue in this case: whether the district court erred in concluding that Anthony‘s time to appeal his conviction and initial sentence expired 14 days after the entry of the initial judgment. While the Supreme Court decided in Manrique that a direct appeal of an initial judgment does not include an appeal of a subsequent restitution order, the Court left open the converse question of whether a direct appeal of a subsequent restitution order can include an appeal of the initial judgment.
The Supreme Court‘s decision in Corey sheds some light on the question. There, the trial court imposed a preliminary sentence, including custody, but deferred imposing a final sentence until after the Bureau of Prisons completed a study of the defendant pursuant to
untimely on the ground that the time to appeal had expired ten days after entry of the initial sentence. Id. at 170–71.
The Supreme Court reversed and held that the defendant‘s appeal was timely. Id. at 175. The Court explained that while the defendant could have filed his appeal after the initial sentence, he was not required to do so: “While an initial commitment under
Consistent with Corey, other circuits have held that a defendant in a deferred restitution case may wait until restitution is ordered before filing an appeal. See United States v. Muzio, 757 F.3d 1243, 1250 (11th Cir. 2014) (“The Supreme Court has . . . recognized that if the defendant chooses to do so, he may avoid bifurcation of his appeal by waiting until restitution has been resolved to appeal.“) (citing Corey, 375 U.S. at 175); United States v. Shehadeh, 962 F.3d 1096, 1099 (9th Cir. 2020) (“[W]here a district court
Our own precedent supports this conclusion. In United States v. Paup, 933 F.3d 1226 (10th Cir. 2019), we held that “a defendant sentenced to imprisonment need not wait until restitution is finally resolved . . . before being allowed to challenge her conviction and sentence on appeal.” Id. at 1230 (emphasis added). This language implies that a defendant may wait to appeal his conviction and initial sentence until after restitution is ordered. This makes sense. A defendant may want to challenge a custodial sentence as soon as possible, even if collateral matters are yet to be resolved.13
We thus conclude that in a deferred restitution case a defendant may file his appeal of his conviction and sentence within 14 days of either (1) the entry of the initial judgment or (2) the entry of the amended judgment containing the restitution amount.14 See
We note in closing that such a rule reinforces our conclusion that Anthony‘s judgment of conviction has yet to become final. Because a defendant can wait until after the entry of a restitution order to appeal his initial sentence, it would be incongruent to hold that the judgment of conviction becomes final prior the determination of restitution. If a defendant‘s judgment of conviction became final for AEDPA purposes after the initial judgment but the defendant did not have to appeal until after restitution is ordered, there is a possibility that the defendant‘s one-year period of limitations would run before the defendant ever had a chance to directly appeal his conviction and initial sentence (e.g., if the district court deferred imposing restitution until a year or more after the initial sentence was entered).15 This would be contrary to
conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for seeking such review.‘“) (quoting
In sum, Anthony did not need to appeal his conviction and sentence within 14 days of the district court entering the initial judgment. Anthony could have challenged the initial judgment when he appealed the first restitution order.
III. Conclusion
For the foregoing reasons, we REVERSE the district court‘s order dismissing Anthony‘s
TYMKOVICH
Chief Judge