Opinion

United States v. Ramey

  • 21 F. App'x 111
Court
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Filed
Oct 17, 2001
Status
Unpublished
On the bench
Wilkins, Luttig, Michael
Cited by
1 cases
Authority
More cited than 47.0%

The opinion

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.  No. 00-4848

RALPH RAMEY,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of West Virginia, at Charleston.

Charles H. Haden II, Chief District Judge.

(CR-92-140)

Submitted: September 25, 2001

Decided: October 17, 2001

Before WILKINS, LUTTIG, and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

COUNSEL

Michael R. Cline, MICHAEL R. CLINE LAW OFFICES, Charleston,

West Virginia, for Appellant. Charles T. Miller, United States Attor-

ney, John K. Cecil, Third-Year Law Student, William Crichton, VI,

Third-Year Law Student, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).

2 UNITED STATES v. RAMEY

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Ralph Ramey appeals from the sentence imposed by the district

court upon remand by this court in a prior appeal. We affirm.

Ramey was convicted of four federal offenses arising out of the

arson of a mobile home occupied by an interracial couple. He was

originally sentenced to a total of 168 months imprisonment and

ordered to pay $10,766.97 in restitution. This court later vacated

Ramey’s arson conviction and remanded for resentencing based on

the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Jones, 528 U.S. 848

(2000) (holding that federal arson statute does not apply to arson of

a residence). United States v. Ramey, No. 98-7069 (4th Cir. June 20,

2000) (unpublished). The restitution order was vacated as well and

remanded in order for the district court to make the requisite findings

under 18 U.S.C. § 3664(a) (1994) (setting forth factors court must

consider in determining restitution).

After remand, the district court again sentenced Ramey to a total

of 168 months imprisonment on the remaining counts. He argues that

the district court erred by applying the guideline for arson because his

arson conviction was overturned. However, it is well settled that

acquittal of an offense does not preclude a sentence enhancement

based upon the same conduct. Monge v. California, 524 U.S. 721, 728

(1998) (holding that double jeopardy principles are inapplicable to

sentencing proceedings); United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148, 157

(1997) (per curiam) (holding that a jury’s verdict of acquittal does not

prevent the sentencing court from considering conduct underlying the

acquitted charge, so long as that conduct has been proved by a pre-

ponderance of the evidence); United States v. Martinez, 136 F.3d 972,

979 (4th Cir. 1998) (same); see also United States v. Hillary, 106 F.3d

1170, 1172-73 (4th Cir. 1997) (collateral relief on an 18 U.S.C.

§ 924(c) conviction does not prevent application of sentencing

enhancement for exactly the same conduct). Moreover, there is no

prohibition against imposing the same sentence upon remand as origi-

nally imposed. See, e.g., Alabama v. Smith, 490 U.S. 794 (1989)

(upholding imposition of harsher sentence upon reconviction after

original conviction was successfully challenged on appeal).

UNITED STATES v. RAMEY 3

Next, Ramey argues that the district court erred in imposing a resti-

tution schedule that did not reflect his earnings or disability. Our

review of the record discloses that the district court made the requisite

factual findings provided in § 3664(a), and that Ramey has failed to

show that those findings are clearly erroneous. United States v.

Daughtrey, 874 F.2d 213, 217 (4th Cir. 1989).

Accordingly, we affirm Ramey’s sentence. We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately pre-

sented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid

the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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