Filed: Apr. 05, 2006
Latest Update: Mar. 28, 2017
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 05-4741 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus JAMES DANIEL BATTLE, a/k/a Mush, a/k/a Jimmy, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Clarksburg. Irene M. Keeley, Chief District Judge. (CR-04-69-IMK) Submitted: February 28, 2006 Decided: April 5, 2006 Before LUTTIG, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam op
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 05-4741 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus JAMES DANIEL BATTLE, a/k/a Mush, a/k/a Jimmy, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Clarksburg. Irene M. Keeley, Chief District Judge. (CR-04-69-IMK) Submitted: February 28, 2006 Decided: April 5, 2006 Before LUTTIG, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opi..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 05-4741
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
JAMES DANIEL BATTLE, a/k/a Mush, a/k/a Jimmy,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern
District of West Virginia, at Clarksburg. Irene M. Keeley, Chief
District Judge. (CR-04-69-IMK)
Submitted: February 28, 2006 Decided: April 5, 2006
Before LUTTIG, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
David W. Frame, Clarksburg, West Virginia, for Appellant. Thomas
E. Johnston, United States Attorney, David J. Perri, Robert H.
McWilliams, Jr., Assistant United States Attorneys, Wheeling, West
Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
James D. Battle was convicted after a jury trial of
assault with a dangerous weapon, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 113(a)(3) (2000), and assault resulting in serious bodily injury,
in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(6) (2000). He appeals the 150-
month sentence imposed, contending that, as charged in the
indictment, the two offenses contained the same factual
allegations, and therefore the imposition of a partially
consecutive sentence--which resulted in a sentence above the
statutory maximum for one offense--violated the Double Jeopardy
Clause.
Battle, an inmate at F.C.I. Morgantown, assaulted fellow
inmate Brian Jointer. Battle waited for Jointer to finish his
shower, then threw hot coffee in Jointer’s face, temporarily
blinding him. Battle then took a broken wooden broom handle from
his pocket and struck Jointer across the back of the head, hard
enough to shatter the broom handle. Battle then repeatedly stabbed
Jointer with the broken broom handle. As a result of the attack,
Jointer suffered a detached retina and permanent loss of sight in
his right eye.
Battle was charged in a two-count indictment with assault
with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting in serious bodily
injury. The jury found him guilty on both charges, and also found
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by special interrogatory that the offenses involved more than
minimal planning.
At sentencing, Battle’s advisory guideline range was
determined to be 120 to 150 months. The district court noted that
the statutory maximum for each offense was 120 months. After
consideration of the relevant sentencing factors, the district
court stated that Battle needed to be incarcerated for as long as
possible, and sentenced him to 120 months on each offense, but ran
the sentences consecutive to each other for 30 months, to achieve
a total sentence of 150 months. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines
Manual § 5G1.2(d) (2004).
Battle concedes that the offenses constitute separate
crimes under the elements test of Blockburger v. United States,
284
U.S. 299, 304 (1932), but he contends that, as charged, the
offenses were the same and therefore the consecutive portion of his
sentence resulted in a double jeopardy violation.
To determine whether two charges are for the same
offense, the relevant consideration is the language of the statute,
not the language of the indictment. Id. (“Each of the offenses
created requires proof of a different element.”) (emphasis added);
Iannelli v. United States,
420 U.S. 770, 785 n.17 (1975) (stating
that language of statute, not factual allegations in indictment, is
determinative). If the statutory language for each crime requires
proof of an additional element which is not an element of the other
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crime, the offenses are separate offenses. See Blockburger, 284
U.S. at 304. However, if the statutory elements overlap completely
such that proof of one crime necessarily proves the second crime,
the defendant cannot receive separate punishments for the two
crimes.
Here, as Battle concedes, the two assault crimes each
contain an element that the other does not. Notably, § 113(a)(3)
requires the use of a dangerous weapon, an element not in
§ 113(a)(6). Likewise, § 113(a)(6) requires proof that the assault
resulted in serious bodily injury, an element not in § 113(a)(3).
Because the statutory elements of the offenses do not completely
overlap, they constitute two separate offenses, and conviction and
punishment for both offenses does not run afoul of the Double
Jeopardy Clause. See Schmuck v. United States,
489 U.S. 705, 716-
17 (1989) (“Since offenses are statutorily defined, that comparison
is appropriately conducted by reference to the statutory elements
of the offenses in question, and not . . . by reference to conduct
proved at trial regardless of the statutory definitions.”).
Although the factual allegations for the two counts in
the indictment are substantially similar, the parties acknowledged
that the additional factual allegations were included as a
precaution after the decision in Blakely v. Washington,
542 U.S.
296 (2004), issued, and before United States v. Booker,
543 U.S.
220 (2005). Because it is the statutory language, not the
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allegations in the indictment, that is used to determine whether
two charges are the same offense or one is a lesser-included-
offense of the other, the addition of factual allegations in the
indictment does not convert two separate offenses into one offense.
See Schmuck, 489 U.S. at 716-17; Blockburger, 284 U.S. at 304.
Lastly, we consider whether the thirty-month consecutive
portion of Battle’s sentence is unreasonable. As this Court
recently held in United States v. Green, “[A] sentence imposed
within the properly calculated Guidelines range . . . is
presumptively reasonable.” Green,
436 F.3d 449, 457 (4th Cir.
2006) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted); see United
States v. Hughes,
401 F.3d 540, 546-47 (4th Cir. 2005) (holding
that sentence must be “within the statutorily prescribed range and
. . . reasonable.”) (citations omitted). Here, Battle does not
contend that the advisory guideline range of 120 to 150 months was
improperly calculated. See USSG § 5G1.2(d); United States v.
White,
238 F.3d 537, 543 (4th Cir. 2001). Thus, his 150-month
sentence, which was within the properly calculated advisory range,
was “presumptively reasonable.” Green, 436 F.3d at 457.
In conclusion, we find that Battle was properly charged
with and convicted of two separate assault offenses, which contain
separate elements. Accordingly, we affirm his sentences, which
were imposed to run consecutive to one another for thirty months to
achieve the greatest possible punishment. See USSG § 5G1.2(d). We
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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
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