Filed: Mar. 20, 2015
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Case: 14-12477 Date Filed: 03/20/2015 Page: 1 of 7 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 14-12477 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 9:11-cr-80210-KAM-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus RICHARD ALEXANDER HEYN, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (March 20, 2015) Before TJOFLAT, WILSON, and MARTIN, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Richard Alexander Heyn appeal
Summary: Case: 14-12477 Date Filed: 03/20/2015 Page: 1 of 7 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT _ No. 14-12477 Non-Argument Calendar _ D.C. Docket No. 9:11-cr-80210-KAM-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus RICHARD ALEXANDER HEYN, Defendant-Appellant. _ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida _ (March 20, 2015) Before TJOFLAT, WILSON, and MARTIN, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Richard Alexander Heyn appeals..
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Case: 14-12477 Date Filed: 03/20/2015 Page: 1 of 7
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 14-12477
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 9:11-cr-80210-KAM-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
RICHARD ALEXANDER HEYN,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
________________________
(March 20, 2015)
Before TJOFLAT, WILSON, and MARTIN, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Richard Alexander Heyn appeals his 120-month sentence, imposed after a
Case: 14-12477 Date Filed: 03/20/2015 Page: 2 of 7
jury found him guilty of making and possessing a destructive device, in violation
of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d) and (f).1 On appeal, Heyn argues that the district court
clearly erred by enhancing his advisory guideline range after finding that he
committed the underlying offense in connection with an attempted murder. He
also argues that the district court’s fact finding on this issue violated his Sixth
Amendment right to a jury trial. Finally, he argues that his 120-month sentence
was substantively unreasonable. After careful consideration, we affirm.
I.
We review de novo a district court’s interpretation and application of the
Sentencing Guidelines, but we accept the court’s fact findings unless they are
clearly erroneous. United States v. Cruz, 713 F.3d 600, 605 (11th Cir. 2013). The
district court does not clearly err “where there are two acceptable views of the
evidence.” United States v. Reeves,
742 F.3d 487, 507 (11th Cir. 2014).
Under Sentencing Guidelines 2K2.1, 2X1.1, and 2A2.1, a defendant
convicted of making and possessing a destructive device under § 5861 begins with
a base offense level of 33 if the violation occurred in connection with attempted
murder. “For purposes of § 2A2.1(a)(1), murder is defined as ‘the unlawful killing
of a human being with malice aforethought.’” United States v. Mock, 523 F.3d
1
Sections 5861(d) and (f) apply to “firearms.” Section 5845(a) defines a “[f]irearm” as, among
other things, “a destructive device.” Section 5845(f) in turn defines a “[d]estructive device” as,
among other things, “any explosive [or] incendiary . . . bomb.”
2
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1299, 1303 (11th Cir. 2008) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 1111(a)). A person is guilty of
attempted murder if he had the specific intent to kill the victim and took a
“substantial step” towards doing so. Braxton v. United States, 500 U.S. 344, 349,
351 n.*,
111 S. Ct. 1854, 1858, 1859 n.* (1991); United States v. Yost,
479 F.3d
815, 819 (11th Cir. 2007) (per curiam). “A substantial step can be shown when the
defendant’s objective acts mark his conduct as criminal and, as a whole, strongly
corroborate the required culpability.”
Yost, 479 F.3d at 819. To apply the
enhancement, the district court must find attempted murder only by a
preponderance of the evidence. See United States v. Smith,
480 F.3d 1277, 1281
(11th Cir. 2007).
The district court did not clearly err when it found by a preponderance of the
evidence that Heyn committed the offenses of his conviction in connection with an
attempted murder. A jury found Heyn guilty of constructing and possessing a
remotely ignited pipe bomb that was built to cause a potentially lethal explosion.
This pipe bomb was discovered attached to the gas tank of a vehicle that was
driven by the husband of a woman with whom Heyn was having an affair. Before
the district court, Heyn raised questions about whether he or that woman actually
attached the bomb to the car. But even if Heyn did not personally attach the bomb,
a preponderance of the evidence supported the finding that he built it and at least
gave it to the wife of the intended victim, and could therefore be sentenced as a co-
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conspirator. See USSG § 1B1.3(a)(1) (members of a conspiracy are responsible
for the acts of co-conspirators). Because Heyn constructed and possessed the pipe
bomb, the district court did not clearly err in finding that Heyn took a substantial
step toward committing the attempted murder.
Heyn cites to United States v. Cole, 817 F. Supp. 1401 (W.D. Mich. 1993),
in which a district court in the Western District of Michigan refused to apply the
attempted murder cross-reference in a similar pipe-bomb case where the bomb
damaged an unattended vehicle.
Id. at 1405. However, in that case, the court
determined that the pipe bomb was made in a way that would have required the
defendant to ignite the bomb in person and seconds before it exploded, indicating
that the defendant did not intend to murder the vehicle’s owner.
Id. By contrast,
this case involved a remote ignition system that could have allowed Heyn to wait
until the victim was alone in the vehicle to detonate the bomb. Regardless, the fact
that the district court here viewed the evidence differently from a trial court in
another jurisdiction does not constitute clear error. As this Court has noted,
“where there are two acceptable views of the evidence, the factfinder’s choice
cannot be clearly erroneous.”
Reeves, 742 F.3d at 507.
II.
Heyn next argues that the district court violated his Sixth Amendment right
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to a jury trial by finding by a preponderance of the evidence that he committed
attempted murder. Our binding precedent forecloses this argument. We have
consistently held that a district court may make factual findings at sentencing by a
preponderance of the evidence, so long as the additional fact findings do not result
in an increase in the statutory maximum or minimum sentence authorized by the
jury verdict. United States v. Charles, 757 F.3d 1222, 1225–26 (11th Cir. 2014).
The statutory maximum sentence for a violation for § 5861(d) and (f) is 120-
months imprisonment. 26 U.S.C. § 5871.2 The district court made findings of fact
that increased Heyn’s advisory guidelines range but not the statutory maximum.
As such, this sentence did not violate Heyn’s right to a jury trial. See United States
v. Vega-Castillo,
540 F.3d 1235, 1236 (11th Cir. 2008) (per curiam) (“[W]e are
bound to follow a prior binding precedent unless and until it is overruled by this
court en banc or by the Supreme Court.” (quotation marks omitted)).
III.
We review the reasonableness of a district court’s sentence under a
deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41,
128 S. Ct. 586, 591 (2007). A district court abuses its discretion when it “(1) fails
to afford consideration to relevant factors that were due significant weight, (2)
gives significant weight to an improper or irrelevant factor, or (3) commits a clear
2
There is no statutory minimum.
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error of judgment in considering the proper factors.” United States v. Campa, 459
F.3d 1121, 1174 (11th Cir. 2006) (en banc). Reasonableness review encompasses
the totality of the circumstances, and the party challenging the sentence has the
burden of showing that it is unreasonable. United States v. Dougherty,
754 F.3d
1353, 1361 (11th Cir. 2014).
The district court must evaluate all of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors, but it
may attach great weight to one factor over the others. Id. at 1361. A district
court’s statement that it considered the § 3553(a) factors is sufficient to establish
that it did not fail to afford consideration to the statutory factors. United States v.
Docampo,
573 F.3d 1091, 1100 (11th Cir. 2009). We defer to the district court’s
judgment regarding the weight of the factors unless the court has “made a clear
error of judgment and has imposed a sentence that lies outside the range of
reasonable sentences dictated by the facts of the case.”
Dougherty, 754 F.3d at
1361–62 (quotation omitted).
Here, the district court stated that it considered all of the § 3553(a) factors,
and there is no evidence that it gave significant weight to an improper or irrelevant
factor. Beyond that, the district court did not make a clear error of judgment in
weighing the factors. It was permissible to find that constructing and placing a
powerful pipe bomb on a vehicle’s gas tank was a serious offense that required
significant punishment, even when weighed against Heyn’s lack of criminal
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history. The district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Heyn to 120-
months imprisonment.
AFFIRMED.
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