United States v. Clark, No. 20-1887 (6th Cir. 2021)
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Clark robbed three banks, stating that he had a gun. When police attempted to conduct a traffic stop, Clark fled at high speed and hit other cars. A 67-year-old suffered significant injuries. Clark was indicted under 18 U.S.C. 2113(a) for two of the robberies and pleaded guilty. Clark admitted to committing another robbery. Based on the terms of the plea agreement, the PSR included the Ohio robbery as a “Pseudo Count” for calculation of Clark’s sentencing range. For each of the three bank robberies, the PSR assessed enhancements for a victim sustaining life-threatening bodily injuries during the car chase and for Clark recklessly creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another person in the course of fleeing from a law enforcement officer. Clark argued the enhancements should only apply to the Pseudo Count to avoid unlawful “triple counting,” and because there was an insufficient nexus linking the flight in Kentucky to the two Michigan robberies. The court overruled these objections and sentenced Clark to a total of 235 months' imprisonment.
The Sixth Circuit vacated. There is no explicit indication that the Sentencing Commission “intended to attach multiple penalties to the same conduct” merely because counts are not grouped together; the stated intent of the grouping guidelines demonstrates that it would be improper to increase a defendant’s sentence based on the same conduct enhancing multiple counts. The court remanded for resentencing without application of the enhancements to all three bank robbery counts.
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