United States v. Stephon Treavon Reggs
Opinion
After Stephon Reggs and two others robbed a Minneapolis convenience store, Reggs pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a robbery that interfered with commerce,
see
The relevant record is meager to say the least. What little we know about the flight from law enforcement officers comes from the presentence report, which the district court adopted after Reggs did not object to its factual recitations. The PSR explains that about twenty-two minutes after receiving the report of the robbery, authorities located the robbery participants' getaway car. An officer shined a flashlight into the car and ordered the occupants to put their hands up, but one of Reggs's co-conspirators drove the car away with Reggs and the third co-conspirator as passengers, "and a short chase ensued." The driver then crashed into a parked car, at which time the three co-conspirators got out of the car and fled on foot. Reggs's co-conspirators "were apprehended after a short foot chase," while Reggs escaped. Reggs was arrested about a week later. No one offered any other evidence about the flight at the sentencing hearing. The PSR recommended the enhancement because "as law enforcement attempted to stop a vehicle that the defendant was a passenger in, the driver ... did not comply" and later crashed into a parked car.
Even if we assume that the flight of the car "recklessly created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury," that does not mean that Reggs created the risk and thus was subject to the enhancement. It is true that as a general rule a defendant's sentence under the Guidelines may be enhanced not only for his own conduct and the conduct he aids and abets, but also for certain reasonably foreseeable conduct of co-conspirators.
See
USSG § 1B1.3(a)(1). But this general rule yields to enhancement rules that specifically provide otherwise,
The government does not take issue with these principles. Instead, it maintains that the record demonstrates that Reggs directed or participated in his co-conspirator's flight, or at least supports an inference that he did so. We don't see it. The government invites us to look at events surrounding the robbery, rather than simply the flight itself. For example, the government emphasizes that Reggs made an already serious crime even more serious when he pistol-whipped and shot at the store clerk, which arguably necessitated a quick getaway. It also emphasizes the potential carceral consequences Reggs faced if caught, given his criminal history and his status as a probationer when he committed the robbery. It further notes that police often respond to robberies in short order, so Reggs and his co-conspirators would have needed to leave quickly to avoid capture.
We see in the government's position nothing more than an argument that it would have been reasonably foreseeable to Reggs that a reckless flight from police might ensue following the robbery. But, as we already said, reasonable foreseeability is insufficient. As one of our sister circuits put it in similar circumstances, "Knowingly participating in an armed robbery in which getaway vehicles are part of the plan is insufficient as a matter of law, without more, to allow a district court to impose this enhancement on individuals not directly committing the acts amounting to reckless endangerment."
Franklin
,
The government also highlights Reggs's flight on foot as evidence that Reggs acquiesced in the car chase. But mere acquiescence in the flight is insufficient; there must be some evidence of the passenger's direct or active participation. We decline, moreover, to hold, as the government asks us to, that Reggs's later flight on foot supports an inference that he directed or actively participated in the car chase. These two events were too distinct for a fact-finder to draw that inference. Perhaps in some cases such an inference could be drawn, but on this record it is not reasonable to do so.
The government maintains finally that by fleeing on foot Reggs aided and abetted his co-conspirators' flight on foot. Reggs did so, the argument runs, by encouraging them to flee and by making it more difficult to capture and subdue them because his flight helped diffuse police resources. Even if the government's theory might prevail in a proper case, the record here is simply too scant to support the enhancement's application. It could just as well be that his co-conspirators' flight induced Reggs's flight. And though the PSR explains that police found guns on at least one co-conspirator, it never details why the co-conspirators' flights created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. The government asserts in its brief that police had to subdue the co-conspirators, but the government does not point to anything in the record indicating that the police physically struggled with Reggs's co-conspirators: All the PSR says is that the co-conspirators were "apprehended" or "detained" following the foot chase. Nor does the PSR reveal how many officers were involved in the foot chase or whether Reggs's flight diverted police resources from Reggs's co-conspirators. For all that we know, the police never even pursued Reggs and instead focused on capturing his co-conspirators. In sum, we cannot conclude on this record that Reggs's flight aided and abetted the flight of his co-conspirators.
We therefore reverse the judgment of the district court and remand for resentencing limited to the record already before the court.
See
United States v. Thomas
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. Stephon Treavon REGGS, Defendant - Appellant.
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published