United States Ninth Circuit

In a conviction of a defendant for various offenses, including wire fraud, possession of an unregistered firearm, extortion, and making a false statement, district court's imposition of a 96-month imprisonment is vacated and remanded where: 1) because the victims of defendant's mailbox-related offenses and his wire fraud and extortion offenses were distinct, the counts should not have been grouped together for purposes of sentencing under section 3D1.2; and 2) the district court erred in enhancing defendant's sentence based on the use of a firearm, his leadership role, and for obstruction, as these were not "relevant conduct" under section 1B1.3 and cannot be considered for purposes of enhancing defendant's extortion sentence.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/07/2012
• Published 09/07/2012

Judges

• Tashima

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel