United States v. Simon

The en banc court overruled United States v. Hernandez-Franco, 189 F.3d 1151 (9th Cir. 1999), and held that a Sentencing Guideline other than USSG 2X1.1 expressly covers an inchoate offense only if the Guidelines themselves so indicate. In this case, defendant was convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery under the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951, and of other federal crimes. Defendant received sentencing enhancements under USSG 2X1.1 for conduct that he contemplated and intended, but did not carry out: abduction, carjacking, and theft. The en banc court affirmed the sentence and clarified how to determine when another Guidelines section "expressly" covers an inchoate offense. The en banc court explained that a sentencing court should begin with Application Note 1 to section 2X1.1, but also may look to the title and content of other Guidelines provisions, or other relevant intra-Guidelines context. Sentencing courts should not, however, rely exclusively on the underlying substantive offense in the United States Code, because statutory language sheds no light on the question of whether a Guidelines section expressly covers the offense, for purposes of section 2X1.1(c). Here, the district court correctly applied section 2X1.1 to determine defendant's sentence and relevant sentencing enhancements because USSG 2B3.1, the Robbery provision, did not expressly cover conspiracies under the Hobbs Act. View "United States v. Simon" on Justia Law