United States v. Jawad MiqbelUnited States v. Jawad Miqbel
Jawad Miqbel appeals the sentence imposed by the district court on the grounds that the court failed to set forth sufficient reasons for its imposition of a sentence outside the recommended range, in violation of
I.
On February 21, 2001, Jawad Miqbel pled guilty to a charge of conspiracy to possess a listed chemical with knowledge and reasonable cause to believe it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine in violation of
Appearing before the district court at the revocation hearing on December 22, 2004, Miqbel was found in violation of one charge, use of methamphetamine, a Grade C violation under the federal Sentencing Guidelines. For a Grade C violation, the Chapter 7 policy statements recommend a range of imprisonment of three to nine months for those who, like Miqbel, have a Category I criminal history. U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 7B1.4 (2004) (Term of Imprisonment (Policy Statement)). 1 At the revocation hearing, however, the district court sentenced Miqbel outside of the recommended three- to nine-month range, to a term of twelve months of imprisonment, despite the recommendations of the probation officer and the government that he receive a six month sentence. 2 The only reason provided by the court for the upward departure was: “I have considered the guidelines under Chapter 7, and I have carefully given consideration to a sentence within those guidelines, but I find that a sentence within those guidelines would be insufficient to meet the purposes of sentencing under these circumstances.”
On May 25, 2005, the district court heard and denied Miqbel’s motion for bail pending appeal. At this hearing, the court acknowledged that it “could have and probably should have been more explicit in the reasons given for the sentence” that it had imposed at the earlier revocation proceeding, and suggested that Miqbel’s counsel raise on appeal the issue whether a court can consider punishment as a factor in deciding what sentence to impose upon revocation of supervised release. In the course of the bail hearing, the court stated that in its view, “punishment is the sentence imposed in order to promote respect for the law and to provide just punishment for the offense” 3 and stated its belief that punishment could be taken into account in revocation sentencing.
II.
Whether the district court provided an adequate statement of reasons for the sentence it imposed is a question of law that we review
de novo. United States v. Duran,
We have historically reviewed the district court’s consideration of non-binding policy statements, such as Chapter 7, for abuse of discretion.
United States v. Tadeo,
On appeal, Miqbel argues, first, that the trial court erred by failing to explain adequately the reasons for his sentence, as required by
at the time of sentencing, [to] state in open court the reasons for its imposition of the particular sentence, and, if the sentence—
(1) is of the kind, and within the range, described in subsection (a)(4), and that range exceeds 24 months, the reason for imposing a sentence within a particular point within the range; or
(2) is not of the kind, or is outside the range, described in subsection (a)(4), the specific reason for the imposition of a sentence different from that described, which reasons must be stated with specificity in the written order of judgment and commitment....
The government argues that according to
United States v. Lockard,
Miqbel’s supervised release sentencing clearly falls within § 3553(c)(2). Because
In
United States v. Musa,
In Miqbel’s case, the only reason the district court provided at sentencing for imposing an out-of-range twelve-month sentence was that it found that “a sentence within [the] guidelines would be insufficient to meet the purposes of sentencing under these circumstances.”
9
Although the government contends that the district court provided the necessary reasons for its sentence “through its colloquy with counsel,” that exchange did not in fact provide any “specific reason[s]” that would have satisfied
I have considered the guidelines under Chapter 7, and I have carefully given consideration to a sentence within those guidelines, but I find that a sentence within those guidelines would be insufficient to meet the purposes of sentencing under these circumstances.
Without further explanations of its reasons, the court sentenced Miqbel to twelve months in prison. At no time during sentencing did the court tie Miqbel’s prior actions to its decision to impose a sentence outside of the recommended guidelines. Nor did it state that such actions were relevant to any permissible sentencing factors, such as the need for deterrence from future criminal conduct or rehabilitation. 11
The legislative history behind
Subsection (c) contains a ... requirement that the court give the reasons for the imposition of the sentence at the time of sentencing. It also requires, if the sentence is within the guidelines, the court to give its reasons for imposing a sentence at a particular point within the range. Further, if the sentence is not within the sentencing guidelines, the court must state the specific reason for imposing [a] sentence that differs from the guidelines.
Lockard,
The government also argues that the district court explained its reasoning for Miqbel’s sentence more explicitly at the subsequent bail hearing, held in May 2005. Aside from Miqbel’s claim that the basis articulated at that hearing was “unreasonable,” in that the district court relied primarily on punishment — a factor he alleges is not appropriate for consideration in the context of revocation sentencing,
see infra
Part IV — the dispositive issue is that the purported specific explanation was given at the bail hearing, and not at the revocation sentencing hearing. Section 3553(c) clearly requires the court to state its reasons
“at the time of sentencing.”
This case well illustrates the reason for the rule we have just discussed. Defendants are, except in most unusual circumstances, present at sentencing hearings. They are, however, frequently absent from bail hearings, as was Miqbel. Thus, without such a rule, defendants might not hear directly from the court the reasons for the length of their confinement. To the extent that the bail hearing is useful in our analysis, it is only because the district judge himself admitted at that hearing that he “could have and probably should have been more explicit [at sentencing] in the reasons given for the sentence [he] imposed” and that he relied primarily on punishment and a desire to promote respect for the law in imposing the sentence.
12
Among the various justifications offered at the bail hearing for why he had not been more explicit in his reasons for imposing a twelve-month sentence, the district judge stated that he did not want to “lecture or talk down” to Miqbel, that he was “at the end of his rope”-with regard to Miqbel, that he misunderstood the applicable law,
13
and that he did not want to have to argue with Miqbel’s counsel about the reasons for the sentence. The court acknowledged that its colloquy with counsel failed to provide an adequate record for review on appeal, stating: “[i]n hindsight, I now realize that it’s not the impact that the colloquy has on the defendant at the time of sentencing that I should have been concerned about. It was the impact that the colloquy would have had on the Court of Appeals later on.”
14
It also recognized its admitted use of “shorthand” in sentencing, stating that it “found that a sentence within those guidelines would not be sufficient to meet the purposes of sentencing under the circumstances. Of course, the purposes of sentencing is a shorthand term for the factors to be considered in imposing a sentence listed in
IV.
Upon resentencing, the district court will be required to provide an adequate statement of reasons for the sentence imposed.
See Wilson,
In
United States v. Booker,
the Court held that
Although a court may consider the need to sanction an individual for violating the conditions of probation or supervised release when formulating its sentence at a revocation proceeding, that type of “sanction” is distinct from the “just punishment” referred to in
The omission of § 3553(a)(2)(A) from § 3583(e) also makes clear that in imposing a revocation sentence, a court may not properly consider a need to “promote respect for the law,” based on the nature of the underlying criminal offense committed, or on the “seriousness of the [underlying] offense.”
And to me, the sentence that I gave was necessary in order to promote respect for the law.... But if punishment is the sentence that’s imposed in order to promote respect for the law and to provide just punishment for the offense as that is used inSection 3553(a)(2)(A) , then I did think that you could take that into account.
It is clear from reviewing the entire colloquy at the bail hearing both that a primary basis for Miqbel’s sentence was punishment that was intended to promote respect for the law, and that the court had begun to doubt the validity of such a basis. 20 Even though the district court appears to have based its sentencing decision in part on an impermissible factor, and may have committed reversible error, 21 we vacate for the reason we considered first: the district court did not provide an adequate statement of reasons for the sentence at the time of sentencing.
Conclusion
Because the district court failed to state specific reasons for the particular sentence imposed, we vacate Miqbel’s sentence and remand to the district court for resentencing.
VACATED and REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
.The Sentencing Commission has historically issued only " 'advisory policy statements' applicable to revocations of probation and supervised release instead of mandatory guidelines.”
United States v. Musa,
. We have held that the district court is not bound by the recommendation of the parties in sentencing, so the court did not err by virtue of its refusal to follow the recommendations.
See United States v. Hurt,
. At the sentencing and bail hearings, there was some discussion of behavior that in two respects might indicate Miqbel's potential for danger to the community, a § 3553(a)(2) fac
. Miqbel's original expected release date was December 18, 2005. However, on October 19, 2005, we granted the request for bail pending resolution of this appeal and ordered Miqbel’s release, remanding to the district court only for the purpose of determining the conditions of release.
. According to § 3742, a sentence "imposed for an offense for which there is no sentencing guideline” — i.e., for which there is only a policy statement — will be reversed only if it is "plainly unreasonable.”
. Although after
Booker,
the sentencing guidelines are no longer mandatory, the requirements of § 3553(c) remain applicable.
See United States v. Fifield,
. Subsection (a)(4), referred to in
. Cited in
Musa, United States v. MontenegroRojo,
. In contrast, the district court in
Musa
found that the defendant was a "danger to the community.”
Musa,
. The government attempts to analogize the colloquy in the instant case to that in
United States v. Vences,
. Although the Assistant United States Attorney present at sentencing provided background on Miqbel's history, she still recommended a sentence of only six months. Therefore, it is unclear from the record on sentencing on what basis the court justified its decision to impose a twelve-month sentence. As to that inquiry, we have only the very cursory explanation offered by the court that "not all [defendants] have done what [Miqbel has] done” and that the guidelines under Chapter 7 were "insufficient.”
. The government argues that the district court also considered Miqbel's history of violations, as well as the need for adequate deterrence and protection of the public, at the bail hearing' — all permissible factors under
. The district judge stated at the bail hearing that
[a]t that time, it was my understanding of the law . . . that if the Court sentenced within the guidelines and the sentencing range did not exceed 25 months, it was not necessary for the Court to state the reasons for selecting the sentence that the Court did.... When it came to supervised release, it was my understanding of the law that ... as long as the Court made it clear for the record that it had considered the Chapter 7 guidelines, it was still not necessary for the Court to state the reasons on the record why it selected the sentence that it did as long as the sentence was within the legal range.
.
Cf. United States v. McClellan,
. Here, the court failed to note that the only sentencing factors that may be considered in sentencing for a violation of supervised release conditions are those provisions in
. There is no cause to apply plain error analysis here. Although Miqbel’s counsel did not expressly object to the district court's failure to provide specific reasons for its departure from the recommended range, his objections to the court's sentencing decision were adequate to preserve the issue. Indeed, the court cut those objections short when counsel sought to discuss further the factors that the court could consider in imposing the sentence and challenged the necessity for an out-of-range sentence, given the application of those factors to the instant case. As the court subsequently stated, it did not offer reasons for its sentencing decision in part because it believed counsel would "come back and argue, argue, argue, argue again.”
. The district court anticipated at the bail hearing that "the Court of Appeals may well reverse and remand for a more complete articulation,” and specifically urged the parties to have this court address the punishment question: “You may want to raise this on appeal, because, quite frankly, I was not aware and, even more frankly, I’m still not aware that the Court can't consider'punishment in deciding what sentence to impose on revocation of supervised release.”
. The government's reliance on
Vences
is misplaced for the reasons mentioned in note 10
supra,
and because Vences's sentencing did not occur within the context of termination of a supervised release, but instead involved an initial sentencing.
See Vences,
. Section
. As the district judge stated to defense counsel at the bail hearing: "I told you that I thought you ought to be able to promote respect for the law when somebody is on supervised release. I think I'm wrong now.”
. Because of the district court’s reliance on an impermissible sentencing factor and the failure of the record to show that it considered the appropriate