United States v. Sparkman, No. 17-3318 (7th Cir. 2020)
Annotate this Case
Justia Opinion Summary
Want to stay in the know about new opinions from the Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals?
Sign up for free summaries delivered directly to your inbox. Learn More ›
You already receive new opinion summaries from Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals. Did you know we offer summary newsletters for even more practice areas and jurisdictions? Explore them here.
Sparkman belonged to a gang that was responsible for murders, kidnappings, and robberies. Sparkman was directly involved in at least two kidnappings in which firearms were used to threaten the victims. He was convicted of federal offenses, including racketeering, drug crimes, and two counts of using a firearm to commit a kidnapping, 18 U.S.C. 924(c). In 2012, Sparkman was sentenced to the mandatory minimum--42 years' imprisonment.
Before the First Step Act of 2018, the second violation of section 924(c) triggered a much higher 25‐year mandatory minimum, even if the two counts were asserted in a single indictment. The First Step Act amended section 924(c) so that only a second violation committed after a prior conviction for the same offense will trigger the 25‐year minimum. These amendments apply to an offense committed before enactment “if a sentence for the offense has not been imposed as of such date of enactment.” 18 U.S.C. 924 note). Sparkman’s sentence was pending on appeal on the date of enactment. The Seventh Circuit rejected his First Step Act petition; “a sentence is ‘imposed’ in the district court, regardless of later appeals.”
Download PDF
In the United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ No. 17 3318 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff Appellee, v. TONY SPARKMAN, Defendant Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 09 cr 332 — Joan B. Gottschall, Judge. ____________________ ARGUED MAY 13, 2020 — DECIDED SEPTEMBER 3, 2020 ____________________ Before RIPPLE, BARRETT, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges. BARRETT, Circuit Judge. Section 403 of the First Step Act of 2018 amended the mandatory minimum sentence for certain firearm o enses. Sentencing reform is generally prospective, but these amendments also apply to an o ense committed be fore enactment “if a sentence for the o ense has not been im posed as of such date of enactment.” First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115 391, § 403(b), 132 Stat. 5194, 5222 (codified at 2 No. 17 3318 18 U.S.C. § 924 note). Tony Sparkman’s sentence was pending on appeal on the date of enactment, and, as he sees it, this means that he is entitled to be resentenced with the benefit of the statute’s reforms. But our circuit rejected this very argu ment in United States v. Pierson, which holds that “a sentence is ‘imposed’ in the district court, regardless of later appeals.” 925 F.3d 913, 927 (7th Cir. 2019). The district court sentenced Sparkman before the statute passed, so the First Step Act does not apply to him. I. Tony Sparkman belonged to a gang that conspired to kid nap and rob drug dealers for money and drugs. The gang was responsible for murders, kidnappings, and robberies, and Sparkman was directly involved in at least two kidnappings in which firearms were used to threaten the victims. He was indicted for and convicted of several federal offenses, includ ing racketeering, drug crimes, and two counts of using a fire arm to commit a kidnapping in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). A conviction for a single count of using a firearm to com mit a crime of violence like kidnapping carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. Id. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i). That mandatory minimum is elevated to seven years if the firearm is “brandished” during the course of the crime. Id. § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). Before the First Step Act, a second violation of § 924(c) triggered a much higher 25 year mandatory minimum, even if the two counts were asserted in a single indictment. The First Step Act amended § 924(c) so that only a second § 924(c) violation committed after a prior conviction for the same offense will trigger the 25 year mini mum. First Step Act § 403(a); see United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319, 2324 n.1 (2019). No. 17 3318 3 Sparkman was initially sentenced in 2012—years before the enactment of the First Step Act. The court calculated that he was subject to a mandatory minimum of 42 years’ impris onment: 10 years for the various racketeering and drug charges, 7 years for the first firearm offense because the court determined that it had involved brandishing a weapon, and 25 years for the second firearm offense. The district court sen tenced Sparkman to that mandatory minimum of 42 years. Sparkman and several of his codefendants appealed their convictions and sentences. United States v. Cardena, 842 F.3d 959 (7th Cir. 2016). Among other arguments, we reviewed a challenge to their sentences based on the Supreme Court’s de cision in Alleyne v. United States, which held that brandishing is an element of the § 924(c) offense that must be found by a jury. 570 U.S. 99, 115 (2013). In Sparkman’s case, the court ra ther than the jury had found the element of brandishing. Car dena, 842 F.3d at 1000–02. We therefore vacated his sentence and remanded so that he could be resentenced without the brandishing enhancement for his first firearm offense. In October 2017, the district court resentenced Sparkman following our instructions in Cardena. Without the brandish ing enhancement for the first firearm offense, Sparkman’s to tal sentence dropped from 42 to 40 years. In November 2017, Sparkman filed a notice of this appeal. Before Sparkman filed his opening appellate brief, the First Step Act became law. He now argues that he should be resentenced yet again with the benefit of section 403 of the Act. 4 No. 17 3318 II. Before we turn to his sentencing challenge, we must briefly address Sparkman’s challenge to his underlying con viction. Among other offenses, Sparkman was convicted of two counts of using a firearm to commit a “crime of violence,” as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3). In his first appeal, Spark man had argued that the residual clause in the statutory defi nition of “crime of violence” was unconstitutionally vague. He had not raised the issue at trial before the court instructed the jury, so we reviewed his argument for plain error. Cardena, 842 F.3d at 997; see United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 734 (1993). We agreed that the residual clause was unconstitu tional, but we concluded that he had failed to show that the court’s erroneous jury instructions affected his substantial rights. Cardena, 842 F.3d at 998. Now Sparkman argues for the first time that the court’s error was structural and therefore inherently prejudicial. The time has long passed for Sparkman to introduce this new argument. The law of the case doctrine bars parties from changing their litigation positions on successive appeals “ex cept where justified by intervening authority, new and previ ously undiscoverable evidence, or other changed circum stances.” United States v. Sumner, 325 F.3d 884, 891 (7th Cir. 2003). Sparkman concedes that he has never before argued that this error was structural but asserts that he has “interven ing authority” on his side. He points to the Supreme Court’s decision in Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319, which validated our conclu sion in Cardena that the residual clause of § 924(c)(3) is uncon stitutionally vague. Davis, however, does not add any force to Sparkman’s claim of structural error; in fact, it does not men tion structural error at all. Davis is not intervening authority No. 17 3318 5 that justifies Sparkman’s change in litigation position. The law of the case bars his new argument. We note, though, that this argument would fail on the merits in any event. The Supreme Court has held that when a court instructs the jury on alternative theories of guilt and one theory is later invalidated, no structural error has occurred. Hedgpeth v. Pulido, 555 U.S. 57, 61–62 (2008). Sparkman’s con viction stands. III. We now turn to Sparkman’s primary argument: that he must be resentenced for a third time so that he can receive the benefit of section 403 of the First Step Act. In general, a statute adopting new, more lenient penalties does not apply to pre enactment offenses unless retroactive application is the “plain import” or “fair implication” of the new statute. Dorsey v. United States, 567 U.S. 260, 275 (2012); see 1 U.S.C. § 109. Ret roactive application is the “plain import” of section 403 be cause it explicitly covers pre Act conduct—but only “if a sen tence for the offense has not been imposed as of such date of enactment.” First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115 391, § 403(b), 132 Stat. 5194, 5222. Sparkman’s eligibility for resen tencing rides on whether this language applies to his second firearm offense. Sparkman argues that a sentence is not “imposed” until it reaches final disposition in the highest reviewing court. As of the date of enactment, Sparkman’s initial sentence had been vacated, he had been resentenced, and his case was pending on appeal. Sparkman argues that the pending appeal means that no sentence had been “imposed” as of the date of enact ment. 6 No. 17 3318 We rejected Sparkman’s reading of the statute in United States v. Pierson, 925 F.3d 913, 927–28 (7th Cir. 2019), vacated on other grounds, 140 S. Ct. 1291 (2020).1 Pierson’s case was pend ing on appeal on the date of enactment, and he claimed that his sentence had not been “imposed” because his case had not reached final disposition. We disagreed. Focusing on the or dinary legal usage of the word “imposed,” we held that a sen tence is “imposed” when the district court sentences the de fendant, “regardless of later appeals.” Id. at 927. We therefore concluded that a sentence had been imposed in Pierson’s case, notwithstanding his pending appeal. See also United States v. Jackson, 940 F.3d 347 (7th Cir. 2019) (reaching the same con clusion). Sparkman’s efforts to distinguish Pierson are unpersua sive. He points out that Pierson dealt with a different provi sion of the First Step Act—section 401, which amended sen tences for certain drug offenses, rather than section 403, which applies to firearms. But both sections use identical language to address sentencing for pre enactment offenses. See First Step Act §§ 401(c), 403(b). And “identical words used in dif ferent parts of the same statute are generally presumed to have the same meaning.” IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez, 546 U.S. 21, 34 (2005). Sparkman offers no reason to deviate from that pre sumption or to part ways with the other circuits that have ap plied the reasoning of Pierson to section 403. See, e.g., United States v. Jordan, 952 F.3d 160, 172 (4th Cir. 2020); United States v. Richardson, 948 F.3d 733, 748–50 (6th Cir. 2020). Precedent 1 The Supreme Court granted certiorari in Pierson, vacated the judg ment, and remanded the case based on an entirely separate ground. 140 S. Ct. 1291 (2020). The vacatur did not call into question Pierson’s analysis of the First Step Act. No. 17 3318 7 forecloses Sparkman’s argument that he is entitled to the First Step Act’s more lenient penalty for his second firearm offense. * * * Because section 403 of the First Step Act does not apply to Sparkman, we AFFIRM the district court’s judgment.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
