Free Sentencing Memo (Supporting Documents) - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender 2 District of Arizona 850 West Adams, Suite 201 3 Phoenix, Arizona 85007 Telephone: (602) 382-2767
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TRACY FRIDDLE, Bar Assoc. #022446 Asst. Federal Public Defender Attorney for Defendant 6 [email protected]
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA United States of America, Plaintiff, -vsRyan Lewis, Defendant. Defendant, through counsel undersigned, offers this memorandum and the attached letter for the Court's consideration at the time of sentencing. I. Facts Family Background Ryan Lewis was born to Sheri Ann Lewis on December 8, 1978. Sheri Lewis cared for Ryan until 1983, when she committed suicide. Ryan was five-years old at the time. Mr. Lewis remembers the day of his mother's suicide well. His mother had locked herself in a room, and family members picked him up and placed him in the room through the window. His mother would not wake up. After the death of his mother, Mr. Lewis went to live with his grandparents. They cared for him and his sister until Mr. Lewis was a teenager. Mr. Lewis's parents were loving, but they were unable to provide sufficient structure and discipline for Mr. Lewis, who had his first brush with the law at the age of 14. No. CR-04-424-PHX-FJM SENTENCING MEMORANDUM

Case 2:04-cr-00424-FJM

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Filed 01/24/2006

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This Offense On May 13, 2000, Mr. Lewis crashed a vehicle, head-on and at a high rate of speed, into another. Mr. Lewis's 13-year-old passenger, who was a friend of Mr. Lewis, was seriously injured in the collision and, on September 5, 2000, died as a result of his injuries. Mr. Lewis was arrested by tribal authorities the day of the collision. On June 15, 2000, he was sentenced to 910 days for three counts of Assault and one count of Endangerment. He served a total of 1,017 days in tribal custody and was released on October 11, 2003. He was arrested by federal authorities on April 27, 2005. Mr. Lewis's Plea Agreement Pursuant to a plea agreement, Mr. Lewis pleaded guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter, as alleged in Count 1 of the indictment. The plea agreement provides for a stipulated range of 30-37 months but allows Mr. Lewis to argue for a reduced sentence based on the amount of time he has served in tribal custody. II. Law & Argument Under section 5G1.3(b) (1999) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G.), if a defendant has an "undischarged term of imprisonment [that] resulted from offense(s) that have been fully taken into account in the determination of the offense level for the instant offense," the court must impose the defendant's sentence for the instant offense to run concurrently to the undischarged term. Application Note 2 to U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3 provides that when a defendant's sentence is imposed pursuant to § 5G1.3(b), "the court should adjust the sentence for any period of imprisonment already served as a result of the conduct taken into account in determining the guideline range for the instant offense if the court determines that the period of imprisonment will not be credited to the federal sentence by the Bureau of Prisons."

Case 2:04-cr-00424-FJM

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Consistent with the spirit of U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3(b), a court may depart downward from the guidelines to give a defendant credit for a discharged term of imprisonment that was imposed as a result of conduct fully taken into account in the determination of his offense level in the instant case. See U.S.S.G. § 5G1.3, n.4 (2005) ("In the case of a discharged term of imprisonment, a downward departure is not prohibited if the defendant (A) has completed serving a term of imprisonment; and (B) subsection (b) would have provided an adjustment had that completed term of imprisonment been undischarged at the time of sentencing for the instant offense.") In this case, Mr. Lewis received a tribal sentence of 910 days ­ or approximately two and a half years ­ for the same conduct for which he awaits sentencing in this Court. Although Mr. Lewis has completed his tribal sentence and it is therefore discharged, this Court may depart downward to give him credit for that time. Mr. Lewis does not request a downward departure from his guideline range of 21 to 27 months, as calculated in his Presentence Investigation Report (PSR). Rather, he requests that this Court consider the significant amount of time that he spent in tribal custody for this offense ­ time that the Bureau of Prisons will not credit to his federal sentence ­ as a mitigating factor that obviates the need for a sentence above his guideline range to arrive at a reasonable sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3553. In light of the amount of time Mr. Lewis has served in tribal custody, even a sentence in the middle of his guideline range would result in his serving a total of four and a half years in custody for this offense. This is significantly more time than recommended by the version of the Guidelines that are applicable in Mr. Lewis's case. Further, it is at least as much time as he would be facing if the current involuntary manslaughter guideline were applicable in his case. Therefore, Mr. Lewis submits that a sentence within his guideline range, as calculated in the PSR, would adequately reflect the seriousness of the offense and serve other purposes under 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
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III.

Conclusion For the reasons stated above, Mr. Lewis requests that this Court sentence

him within his guideline range. Respectfully submitted: January 24, 2006. JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender s/Tracy Friddle TRACY FRIDDLE Asst. Federal Public Defender

Copy of the foregoing SENTENCING MEMORANDUM was electronically transmitted by CM/ECF system 11 this 24th day of January, 2006, to:
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Sharon Sexton Assistant U.S. Attorney 13 Two Renaissance Square, Suite 1200 40 North Central Ave. 14 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408
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I hereby certify that the foregoing document was mailed on 16 January 24, 2006, to the following who is not a registered participant 17 of the CM/ECF system:
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Sharie Lutt U.S. Probation Officer 19 401 West Washington Phoenix, AZ 85004
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Ryan Lewis Defendant s/Tracy Friddle
Tracy Friddle

Case 2:04-cr-00424-FJM

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