Filed: May 25, 2005
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 04-4459 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus FREEDOM BORN DIVINE, a/k/a Rico Rivers, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia. Cameron McGowan Currie, District Judge. (CR-03-606) Submitted: April 22, 2005 Decided: May 25, 2005 Before NIEMEYER and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed in part, vacated in pa
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 04-4459 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus FREEDOM BORN DIVINE, a/k/a Rico Rivers, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia. Cameron McGowan Currie, District Judge. (CR-03-606) Submitted: April 22, 2005 Decided: May 25, 2005 Before NIEMEYER and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge. Affirmed in part, vacated in par..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 04-4459
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
FREEDOM BORN DIVINE, a/k/a Rico Rivers,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Columbia. Cameron McGowan Currie, District
Judge. (CR-03-606)
Submitted: April 22, 2005 Decided: May 25, 2005
Before NIEMEYER and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by unpublished per
curiam opinion.
Louis H. Lang, CALLISON TIGHE & ROBINSON, L.L.P., Columbia, South
Carolina, for Appellant. J. Strom Thurmond, Jr., United States
Attorney, Stacey D. Haynes, Assistant United States Attorney,
Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Freedom Born Divine was convicted in December 2003 of
possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)
(2000), and sentenced to the statutory maximum term of 120 months
imprisonment. Divine appeals his sentence, contending that under
Blakely v. Washington,
124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004), the district court
erred by refusing to submit to the jury a special verdict form on
the number of firearms he possessed and by increasing his offense
level for use or possession of a firearm in connection with another
felony. At the sentencing hearing, the court determined that
Divine possessed at least three firearms, which resulted in a two-
level enhancement pursuant to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual
§ 2K2.1(b)(1)(A) (2003). The court also determined that Divine had
possessed the firearms in connection with marijuana distribution,
resulting in a four-level enhancement under § 2K2.1(b)(5). For the
reasons explained below, we affirm Divine’s conviction but vacate
the sentence and remand for resentencing.
In United States v. Booker,
125 S. Ct. 738 (2005), the
Supreme Court held that Blakely applies to the federal sentencing
guidelines and that the mandatory guidelines scheme which provides
for sentence enhancements based on facts found by the court
violated the Sixth Amendment; the Court remedied the constitutional
violation by severing and excising the statutory provisions that
mandate sentencing and appellate review under the guidelines, thus
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making the guidelines
advisory. 125 S. Ct. at 746-48, 755-56
(Stevens, J., opinion of the Court); 756-57 (Breyer, J., opinion of
the Court). Subsequently, in United States v. Hughes,
401 F.3d 540
(4th Cir. 2005), this court held that a sentence that is enhanced
based on facts found by the court, not by a jury, constitutes plain
error that affects the defendant’s substantial rights and warrants
reversal under Booker when the record does not disclose what
discretionary sentence the district court would have imposed under
an advisory guideline scheme.
Hughes, 401 F.3d at 546-56.
Divine received sentence enhancements for the number of
firearms he possessed and for possessing firearms in connection
with marijuana trafficking. The jury’s general verdict established
only that Divine possessed at least one firearm; however, the
district court determined that Divine possessed at least three
firearms and that a two-level increase under § 2K2.1(b)(2)(A) was
warranted, as recommended by the probation officer. The court also
determined that Divine possessed the firearms in connection with
marijuana trafficking, which resulted in an additional four-level
enhancement under § 2K2.1(b)(5). Without these enhancements,
Divine’s offense level would have been 24 rather than 30 and his
guideline range would have been 77-96 months rather than 120
months. The maximum sentence authorized by the jury verdict alone
was 96 months.
Id. at 547. Because Divine’s sentence was longer
as a result of the Sixth Amendment violation, we conclude that his
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substantial rights were affected.
Id. at 548-49. Finally, because
the district court did not indicate what sentence it would impose
under an advisory guideline scheme, we exercise our discretion to
notice the error.
Id. at 556.
In light of Booker and Hughes, we vacate the sentence and
remand the case for resentencing consistent with Booker and Hughes.
We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the
court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED IN PART,
VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED
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