United States v. SmithUnited States v. Smith
ORDER ON DEFENDANT’S OBJECTIONS
This case comes before the Court on the following:
1. Sеntencing Memorandum by Defendant Damian Jamil Smith (Doc. No. 87, filed Sept. 24, 2009);
2. Addendum to Defendant Damian Jamil Smith’s Sentencing Memorandum by Defendant Damian Jamil Smith (Doc. No. 91, filed Oct. 12, 2009); and
*1318 3. Sentencing Memorandum by Plaintiff United States of America (Doc. No. 95, filed Oct. 22, 2009).
Background
Defendant previously pled guilty in state court and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for robbery, false imprisonment, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Defendant also pled guilty in fеderal court to (1) two counts of robbery in violation of
Defendant raised a number of objections to the Presentenсe Report in a sentencing memorandum. (Doc. No. 87.) On September 28, 2009, the Court held a sentencing hearing during which Defendant withdrew some of his objections. (Doe. No. 88.) The Court continued the sentencing to allow the parties to brief the remaining issues: (1) whether the sentencing enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(l) for taking the property of a financial institution applies; (2) whether consecutive sentences must be imposed for the conduct prohibited by
Analysis
1. Whether the Sentencing Enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(l) Applies
U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(l) states “if the property of a financial institution or post office was taken, or if the taking of such property was an object of the offense, increase by 2 levels.” Thus, the enhancement applies if either (1) the money taken from the ATM was the bank’s property; or (2) the taking of the bank’s money was the object of the offense. Neither party contends thаt taking the bank’s money was the object of the offenses here. Therefore, the issue is whether the money taken from the ATMs by Defendant or by the account holder under duress created by Defendant was the property of a bank.
1
No court had discussed this issue in the context of a violation of the federal robbery statute,
A. Risk of Loss of Unauthorized ATM Withdrawals
The withdrawals here were either made by Defendant after robbing the account holders’ ATM cards and PINs or by the account holders under duress created by Defеndant. In either case, the withdrawals were “unauthorized electronic funds transfers” as defined by the Electronic Funds Transfer Act,
Pursuant to the Electronic Funds Transfer Act,
All but one of the unauthorizеd ATM withdrawals here were greater than $50. See Plea Agreement at 17-19. For each of those withdrawals over $50, the bank was partially liable, and for the larger withdrawals (i.e. $700, $700, $500), the bank was primarily liable. Because the banks primarily bore the risk of loss of the unauthorized ATM withdrawals, the money taken from the ATMs here was the property of the bank whether it was withdrawn by Defendant or by the account holders under duress created by Defendant.
B. Analogy to Federal Bank Robbery Statute,
The federal bank robbery statute,
In
United States v. McCarter,
In so holding, the Seventh Circuit distinguished
United States v. Van,
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals relied on
Van
and rejected
McCarter
in holding that an ATM withdrawal made by a victim under duress and in the defendant’s presence was not a bank robbery in
United States v. Burton,
The situation here is more analogous to the facts in McCarter and Burton than those in Van. Like what happened here, the facts in McCarter and Burton concerned an account holder withdrawing *1321 money from an ATM in the defendant’s presence and while under duress. On the other hand, the distressed account holder in Van previously and unilaterally withdrew money from the bank and then was robbed elsewhere. McCarter and Burton, however, reached opposite results on nearly identical facts. The result in McCarter is preferred because it gave legal effect to the account holder’s duress by finding that the account holdеr was the unwilling agent of the defendant. In addition, the McCarter panel’s holding that the withdrawn funds belong to the bank squares with placing the risk of loss of an unauthorized ATM withdrawal primarily on the bank pursuant to the Electronic Funds Transfer Act. Adopting the reasoning of McCarter, the withdrawn funds belonged to the bank, and the sentencing enhancement should apply.
C. Purpose of U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(l)
U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(l) exists “to punish robberies of financial institutions and post offices more severely because those entities typicаlly keep large amounts of readily available cash and therefore are particularly attractive as robbery targets.”
United States v. Dudley,
D. Effect of an Unauthorized Transfer on the Legal Title of Cash Under Common Law
There is nothing in the record to show that the money taken from the ATMs was specifically assigned to the victims’ accounts when it was placed by the banks in the ATMs. Therefore, the money placed in the ATMs was the banks’ property until lawfully withdrawn. See 53A Am. Jur. 2d Money § 17 (2009) (“Since United States currency is normally considered to be a bearer instrument, possession of such property is рrima facie evidence of ownership.”) Coerced or unauthorized withdrawals did not divest title of the money from the banks. See 53A Am. Jur. 2d Money § 21 (2009) (“Since possession of money vests title in the holder, the title to money passes with delivery to a person who acquires it in good faith and for valuable consideration.”); 53A Am. Jur. 2d Money § 22 (2009) (“Money lost by theft remains the property of the owner ....”); id. n. 2 (“Where a person receiving money is a party to the fraud or cоnspiracy by which the money is procured, that person’s title to it is not good as against the true owner.”). Accordingly, the money withdrawn from the ATMs under duress or by theft was the property of the bank.
In light of the aforementioned caselaw, statutes, and the purpose of U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(l), the sentencing enhancement should apply here. Accordingly, the two points should be added to Defendant’s offense level pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2B3.1(b)(l).
II. Imposition of Consecutive Sentences Pursuant to
The statute at issue,
(1)(A) Except to the extent that a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided by this subsection or by any other provision of law, any person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (including a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime that provides for an enhanced punishment if committed by the use of a *1322 deadly or dangerous weapon or device) for.which the person may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, or who, in furtherance of any such crime, possesses a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence or drug trafficking crime—
(ii) if the firearm is brandished, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years;
(C) In the case of a second or subsequent conviction under this subsection, the person shall—
(i) be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 25 years
(D) Notwithstanding any other provision of law — ...
(ii) no term of imprisonment imposed on a person under this subsection shall run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed on the person, including any term of imprisonment imposed for the crime of violence or drug trafficking crime during which the firearm was used, carried, or possessed.
Pursuant to subsection (c)(l)(D)(ii), any sentence imposed under
III. Effect of the “Except” Clause in
Defendant maintains that the “except” clause at the outset of
Defendant cites
United States v. Whitley,
The defendant in
Whitley
was charged with a single firearm in violation of
Supreme Court precedent requires both the seven and twenty-five year sentences to be imposed here. In
Deal v. United States,
Like the defendant in Deal, Defendant was convicted of multiple violations of 924(c) arising out of multiple criminal acts and thus both the seven and twenty-five year mandatory minimum sentences should be imposed.
IV. Imposition of Federal Robbery Sentence Consecutive to the State Prison Sentence
Defendant argues that his federal sentence for robbery should run concurrent to his state sentence for robbery pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(b). (Doc. No. 91 at 4; Doc. No. 87 at 8.) The Government’s sentencing memorandum does not address this issue.
Pursuant to
The applicable sentencing guideline, U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3 states:
[ If] a term of imprisonment resulted from another offense that is relevant conduct to the instant offense of conviction under the provisions of subsections (a)(1), (a)(2), or (a)(3) of § 1B1.3 and that was the basis for an increase in the offense level for the instant offense under Chapter Two (Offense Conduсt) or *1325 Chapter Three (Adjustments), ... (2) the sentence for the instant offense shall be imposed to run concurrently to the remainder of the undischarged term of imprisonment.
Defendant correctly maintains that his co-defendant’s brandishing of a firearm resulted in a term of imprisonment in state court and was relevant conduct that increased his offense level for federal robbery. Paragraph 86 of the PSR noted that the circumstances of Defendant’s state crime are set forth in Paragraph 32 of the PSR. Conduct in Paragraph 32 of the PSR was used to enhance Defendant’s sentence for federal robbery by 5 levels as set forth in Paragraph 59 of the PSR. Thus, under U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3, Defendant’s federal robbery sentence should run concurrently with the state robbery sentence. However, the Court is not bound by the Guidelines
post-Booker
and may impose any reasonable sentence taking into consideration the Section 3553(a) factors.
Covington,
Conclusion
Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED:
1. Two points should be added to Defendant’s offense level pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2333.1(b)(1);
2. Consecutive seven and twenty five year sentences should be imposed pursuant to Sections 924(c)(1)(A)(ii), (c)(1)(C)®, and (e)(l)(D)(ii), and these sentences must run consecutive to Defendant’s other state and federal terms of imprisonment; and
3. Pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3 Defendant’s federal robbery sentence may run concurrently with the undischarged term of his state robbery sentence. However, the Court has the discretion to impose a consecutive sentence for the robbery counts if reasonable in light of the Section 3553(a) factors.
Notes
. Only one of the many ATM withdrawals underlying the two counts of robbery here was made by an account holder. The other withdrawals were made by Defendant and his co-defendant using the account holders’ ATM cards. (Compare Doc. No. 70 at 17, filed June 25, 2009 (Defendant Dunn forced the account holder to withdraw $700 from her checking account), with id. (Defendant Dunn withdrew $240 from the account holder’s checking and savings accounts using the account holder’s Washington Mutual bank card); id. at 18 (Defendants used the bank cards of the account holders to withdraw cash at several ATM machines from their respective bank accounts at Bank of America).) As discussed herein, applying the sentencing enhancement for both withdrawal methods is approрriate.
. Defendant argues that the sentencing enhancement for taking the property of a bank cannot apply because Defendant pled guilty to robbery in violation of
. The Government cites
United States v. Segarra,
. The rationale of
Deal
applies whether the defendant was convicted by jury verdict or guiliy plea.
See United States v. Couch,
. The Government also cited
United States v. Rawlings,
. As discussed above, this Court must impose seven and twenty-five year sentences consecutive to all other state and federal sentences for Defendant’s violations of Section 924(c).
Gonzales,