United States v. Alkhabbaz
Opinion of the Court
Defendant-appellant Albir Alkhabbaz (“Alkhabbaz”) appeals from the judgment of conviction of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Preska, J.) entered on October 24, 2007, sentencing him in principal part to a term of imprisonment of 97 months, to be followed by a term of three years’ supervised release. Alkhabbaz pleaded guilty to a six-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1849, wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, conspiracy to launder money instruments, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h), and three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957(a). We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts and procedural history of this case, as well as with the issues raised on appeal.
Alkhabbaz argues that the district court erred in calculating his sentencing guideline range when it found, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.4, that a two-level upward adjustment in his offense level was warranted because he used a minor to commit what the district court described as “the offense,” increasing his total offense level from 28 to 30. The district court grouped Alkhabbaz’s offenses and sentenced him pursuant to the money laundering guidelines. The U.S.S.G. § 3B1.4 upward adjustment applies, however, only if Alkhabbaz used a minor in the money laundering offense, rather than in the wire fraud offense from which the funds were laundered. See U.S.S.G. § 2S1.1, note 2(C) (“Chapter Three adjustments] shall be determined based on the offense covered by this guideline (ie., the laundering of criminally derived funds) and not on the underlying offense from which the laundered funds were derived.”). As the government concedes, although there was sufficient evidence for the district court to find that Alkhabbaz used a minor to commit the wire fraud offense, there was insufficient evidence in the record from which the district court could reasonably have found that Alkhabbaz used a minor to commit the money laundering offense. Thus, the district court erred in applying a two-level enhancement to the money laundering offense level.
Because this error in calculating the Sentencing Guidelines renders Alkhabbaz’s sentence procedurally unreasonable, we vacate the sentence and remand to the district court for resentencing consistent with this order. See United States v. Cavern, 550 F.3d 180, 190 (2d Cir. 2008). We express no opinion as to whether the government has waived the argument that the district court should increase Alkhabbaz’s total offense level beyond 28 on remand because the wire fraud count should be used in the grouping of Alkhabbaz’s offenses. Cf. Greenlaw v. United States, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 2559, 2570 n. 8, 171 L.Ed.2d 399 (2008) (“The cross-appeal rule ... does not confine the trial court. But default and forfeiture doctrines do. It would therefore be hard to imagine a case in which a district court, after a court of appeals vacated a criminal sentence, could properly increase the sentence based on an error the appeals court left uncorrected because of the cross-appeal rule.”). We also do not consider whether Alkhabbaz may avoid resentencing by notifying the district court on remand that he does not wish to be resentenced. See United States v. Regalado, 518 F.3d 143, 149 (2d Cir. 2008).
For the foregoing reasons, the district court’s judgment of conviction is AFFIRMED, the sentence VACATED, and we REMAND to the district court for resentencing. Alkhabbaz’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is DISMISSED with prejudice.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Albir ALKHABBAZ
- Status
- Published