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UNITED STATES v. ZARATE (2021)

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.2021-04-19No. No. 20-1154

Summary

Holding. The appellate court remanded for resentencing without the destructive-device enhancement because the district court plainly erred in applying an enhancement to a .410 caliber shotgun that did not meet the statutory definition of a destructive device.

Adrian Zarate pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun and received a sentence that included an enhancement for possessing a destructive device under the sentencing guidelines. On appeal, Zarate challenged this enhancement even though he did not object to it at sentencing, triggering plain error review. The court determined that the shotgun in question was a .410 caliber weapon, which by definition has a bore diameter of approximately .410 inches—well below the half-inch threshold required by federal law to qualify as a destructive device. Because the firearm did not meet the statutory definition, the district court committed plain error in applying the enhancement.

The appellate court found that this error was not harmless because it artificially inflated Zarate's sentencing range under the guidelines, affecting his substantial rights and the integrity of the proceedings. The court upheld a separate enhancement related to carrying a handgun within city limits, finding sufficient evidence in the record to support that finding. The case was sent back to the district court for resentencing without the improper destructive-device enhancement.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether a .410 caliber shotgun qualifies as a destructive device under 26 U.S.C. § 5845(f)
  • Whether plain error review applied when the defendant failed to object to the enhancement
  • Whether the enhancement error affected substantial rights and the fairness of sentencing proceedings

Procedural posture

Zarate appealed his sentence imposed after pleading guilty to possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun, challenging the application of a destructive-device enhancement.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

Adrian Zarate appeals the sentence imposed after he pled guilty to possessing an unregistered short-barreled shotgun. We ordered supplemental briefing on whether the district court plainly erred in imposing an enhancement under United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“Guidelines”) § 2K2.1(b)(3)(B) for possessing a destructive device. For the following reasons, we remand for resentencing without the destructive-device enhancement.

Because Zarate did not object to the destructive-device enhancement, our review is for plain error. See United States v. Parrow, 844 F.3d 801, 802 (8th Cir. 2016) (per curiam) (reviewing application of enhancement for plain error because defendant did not object to enhancement); see also United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 731-33, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993) (forfeited error is subject to plain error review). Section 2K2.1(b)(3)(B) provides for an enhancement if the offense involved a “destructive device,” which an application note defines as having “the meaning given that term in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(f).” See U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1 cmt. n.1. Section 5845(f) defines a destructive device, in relevant part, as “any type of weapon ․ which will ․ expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, the barrel or barrels of which have a bore of more than one-half inch in diameter[.]” See 26 U.S.C. § 5845(f)(2). The shotgun at issue is described in the presentence report and throughout the record as a .410 caliber shotgun, and therefore, by definition it had a bore diameter of less than one-half inch. See Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed. 2014) (defining caliber as “the diameter of a bore of a gun [usually] expressed in hundredths or thousandths of an inch and typically written as a decimal fraction”); see also People v. Cortez, 110 Misc.2d 652, 442 N.Y.S.2d 873, 874 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1981) (noting “[t]he gauge of the shotgun refers to the inside bore diameter of the barrel” and a .410 caliber shotgun has a bore diameter of .410 of an inch); but see United States v. Lee, 351 F.3d 350, 351 n.1 (8th Cir. 2003) (appearing to hold that “an unregistered sawed-off Marlin Model 60G .410 caliber shotgun, m[et] the statutory definition of ‘destructive device,’ ” when this was undisputed by the parties and without specifically relying on the bore diameter to do so). We thus conclude the district court plainly erred in imposing the destructive-device enhancement. Further, the error affected Zarates substantial rights, as his Guidelines imprisonment range would have been lower without the enhancement, and the error seriously affects the fairness of the proceedings. See Molina-Martinez v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S. Ct. 1338, 1347, 194 L.Ed.2d 444 (2016) (“Where ․ the record is silent as to what the district court might have done had it considered the correct Guidelines range, the courts reliance on an incorrect range in most instances will suffice to show an effect on the defendants substantial rights.”); see also Rosales-Mireles v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 138 S. Ct. 1897, 1910, 201 L.Ed.2d 376 (2018) (“The mere fact that [the defendants] sentence falls within the corrected Guidelines range does not preserve fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the proceedings.”).

As for the remaining issues raised on appeal, we conclude the district court properly applied the enhancement under Guidelines § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B), because the record supports the courts finding that Zarate carried a handgun within the city limits of Waterloo, Iowa. See U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B); Iowa Code § 724.4(1); United States v. Dixon, 822 F.3d 464, 465 (8th Cir. 2016) (standard of review). Because we remand for resentencing, we do not reach the substantive-reasonableness challenge.

Accordingly, we remand for resentencing without the destructive-device enhancement.

PER CURIAM.