United States v. Hornsby

                       UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                            FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

                              _____________________

                                   No. 95-40993
                                 Summary Calendar
                              _____________________

                         UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                                            Plaintiff-Appellee,

                                      versus

                           MICHAEL WAYNE HORNSBY,

                                                           Defendant-Appellant.

_________________________________________________________________

           Appeal from the United States District Court
                 for the Eastern District of Texas
                           (1:95-CR-79-1)
_________________________________________________________________

                                  July 5, 1996

Before DAVIS, BARKSDALE and DeMOSS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

      Primarily at issue is whether the sentencing guideline for

kidnapping was the guideline most analogous to the offense conduct

to   which   Michael    Wayne    Hornsby     pleaded      guilty   --   interstate

domestic     violence    --     and   for    which   no    guideline     had   been

promulgated. Hornsby challenges his sentence on this and two other

bases; we AFFIRM.

                                        I.

      On June 13, 1995, in Brookeland, Texas, Hornsby approached his

former girlfriend and asked to speak to her.                  When she refused,

Hornsby choked her until she was unconscious, placed her in her

automobile, and took her to Louisiana, where he was apprehended.
     Hornsby was indicted for kidnapping, in violation of 18 U.S.C.

§ 1201, and for interstate domestic violence, in violation of 18

U.S.C. § 2261.    In exchange for his plea of guilty to interstate

domestic violence, the kidnapping charge was dismissed.         A person

commits the crime of interstate domestic violence by, inter alia,

“caus[ing] a spouse or intimate partner to cross a State line ...

by force, coercion, duress, or fraud and, in the course or as a

result of that conduct, intentionally commit[ting] a crime of

violence and thereby caus[ing] bodily injury to the person’s spouse

or intimate partner”.   18 U.S.C. § 2261(a)(2).

     At sentencing, the district court, over Hornsby’s objections,

applied the base offense level for kidnapping to the interstate

domestic violence offense.     The court also found, over Hornsby’s

objections, that he was a career offender; and that, because

Hornsby committed the instant offense while on state parole, his

sentence for the federal offense should run consecutively to his

state sentence.   Hornsby was sentenced to the statutory maximum of

60 months imprisonment, to run consecutively to his state sentence.

                                   II.

     Hornsby challenges use of the kidnapping guideline, the career

offender   finding,   and    his   federal   sentence   being    served

consecutively.

                                   A.

     Hornsby contends that, rather than using the base offense

level for kidnapping, the district court should have used that for

assault or aggravated assault.      He asserts that those guidelines


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are more closely analogous to his offense conduct because each

necessarily    involves    bodily   harm,      while    kidnapping   can   occur

without violence.    We review de novo the ruling that the kidnapping

guideline is the most analogous guideline.                   United States v.

Smertneck, 954 F.2d 264, 265 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 833

(1992).

     The district court sentenced Hornsby under the 1994 version of

the Guidelines, which do not specify a base offense level for

interstate domestic violence.       Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b) and

U.S.S.G. § 2X5.1 (1994)(court should apply the most analogous

offense guideline for an offense for which no guideline has been

promulgated), the district court applied the kidnapping guideline,

finding that    it   was   the   most       analogous   to   Hornsby’s   offense

conduct.   The court rejected Hornsby’s contention that the assault

or aggravated assault guideline should have been used instead,

adopting the PSR’s reasoning that the kidnapping guideline was the

only one that addressed the elements of abduction and crossing a

state line.

     Because Hornsby was sentenced on November 15, 1995, the 1995

version of the Guidelines, effective that November 1, should have

been used.      18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(4)(A); see United States v.

Castaneda-Cantu, 20 F.3d 1325, 1336 (5th Cir. 1994) (sentencing

court must apply version of guidelines in effect at sentencing

unless such application would violate Ex Post Facto clause).

Appendix A of those Guidelines, which specifies the guideline

section applicable to the statute of conviction, references several


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applicable guidelines for violations of 18 U.S.C. § 2261, including

those for assault and kidnapping.            U.S.S.G. App. A (1995).       The

introduction to Appendix A states that, if more than one guideline

section is referenced for the particular statute, the court should

use the one most appropriate for the nature of the offense conduct

charged in the offense for which the defendant was convicted.              Id.

Accordingly, the analysis is the same whether under the 1994 or

1995 version. (This applies equally to all of the guidelines cited

here.   Accordingly, the 1995 version is used.)

     Although    Hornsby’s   offense       conduct   involved   violence   and

bodily injury, which would make the guidelines for assault and

aggravated assault applicable, see U.S.S.G. §§ 2A2.2, 2A2.3, it

also involved abducting and carrying the victim across a state

line.    The    offense   guideline    for    kidnapping,   which   includes

increases in the offense level if the victim suffered certain

degrees of bodily injury, is the only guideline which takes into

consideration all of these specific offense characteristics.               See

U.S.S.G. § 2A4.1.    Therefore, because the kidnapping guideline is

the most analogous to Hornsby’s offense conduct, the district court

did not err by using it to determine the offense level for

interstate domestic violence.

                                      B.

     The career offender finding is challenged next.                 Hornsby

asserts that the PSR, which the district court adopted, contains no

evidence or factual basis for the conclusion that the offenses on

which career offender status is based involved the use, attempted


                                      4
use, or threatened use of physical force, such that they were

crimes of violence within the meaning of U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1.

     We review the interpretation of § 4B1.1 de novo, and the

factual findings for clear error.        United States v. Shano, 955 F.2d

291, 294 (5th Cir. 1992). A defendant is a career offender if,

inter alia, he has at least two prior felony convictions for either

a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.          U.S.S.G. §

4B1.1.    A “crime of violence” is a felony offense that has as an

element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force

against another.      U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(1)(i).      A “crime of violence”

also includes, inter alia, burglary of a dwelling.              U.S.S.G. §

4B1.2(1)(ii).

     The PSR stated that one of Hornsby’s prior theft charges was

filed initially as a burglary of a habitation and that one of his

burglary offenses also involved burglary of a habitation.             Hornsby

offered no evidence to rebut this.

     A presentence report generally bears sufficient indicia of

reliability to be considered as evidence by the trial judge in

making    guideline   determinations,     especially   when   there    is   no

evidence in rebuttal.      United States v. Alfaro, 919 F.2d 962, 966

(5th Cir. 1990).      Because burglary of a habitation is considered a

crime of violence, the court did not err in holding that Hornsby

had the two requisite prior crimes of violence for career offender

status.    See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(1)(ii) & comment. (n.2) (conduct of

which defendant was convicted is focus of inquiry).

                                    C.


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     The final issue concerns Hornsby’s federal sentence being

served consecutively to an undischarged state sentence.

                                 1.

     Hornsby asserts that, because his state conviction was used to

determine his base offense level for the instant offense, he should

have been sentenced under U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(b).     It provides that,

if “the undischarged term of imprisonment resulted from offense(s)

that have been fully taken into account in the determination of the

offense level for the instant offense, the sentence for the instant

offense shall be imposed to run concurrently to the undischarged

term of imprisonment”.      U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(b).    Hornsby’s state

conviction was used in calculating his criminal history score, but

not in determining his base offense level. Accordingly, § 5G1.3(b)

is inapplicable.

     The district court ordered a consecutive sentence, pursuant to

U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(c), p.s., which provides:

          (Policy Statement) ... the sentence for the
          instant offense may be imposed to run
          concurrently,   partially  concurrently,  or
          consecutively to the prior undischarged term
          of imprisonment to achieve a reasonable
          punishment for the instant offense.

U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(c), p.s.   The commentary to § 5G1.3 provides that


          [i]f the defendant was on ... state ... parole
          ... at the time of the instant offense, and
          has had such ... parole ... revoked, the
          sentence for the instant offense should be
          imposed to run consecutively to the term
          imposed for the violation of ... parole ... in
          order to provide an incremental penalty for
          the violation of ... parole....

U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3, comment. (n.6).

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     When Hornsby committed the instant offense, he was on state

parole until June 5, 1998, for three burglaries.    His parole was

revoked on September 5, 1995.    Note 6 of the commentary, quoted

above, squarely addresses this situation. Therefore, the court did

not err by ordering a consecutive sentence.

                                 2.

     Hornsby’s contention that due process forbids a consecutive

sentence because his state parole had not been revoked at the time

of the commission of the instant offense and entry of his plea is

meritless.   He does not explain how his due process rights have

been violated; nor does he support his contention with citations to

any authority.   See FED. R. APP. P. 28(a)(6).

                                III.

     For the foregoing reasons, the sentence is

                                                       AFFIRMED.




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