United States v. Larnel Webb Lofton

While appellant Larnel Webb Lofton (“Lofton”) was in jail awaiting his sentencing hearing on charges of wire fraud and bail jumping, he used his jail telephone to continue his wire fraud activities. The district court characterized this conduct as obstruction of justice and adjusted Lofton’s offense level upward by two points. Lof-ton appeals his sentence which the district court imposed using this upward adjustment. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 . We affirm.

DISCUSSION

Sentencing Guidelines § 3C1.1, entitled “Willfully Obstructing or Impeding Proceedings,” provides that: “If the defendant willfully impeded or obstructed, or attempted to impede or obstruct the administration of justice during the investigation or prosecution of the instant offense, increase the offense level ... by 2 levels.”

Lofton argues that his in-jail conduct, upon which the district court relied to enhance his sentence, falls outside the scope of Sentencing Guidelines § 3C1.1. First, he contends that his in-jail conduct was not designed to cover-up the crimes to which he had pleaded guilty, nor did that conduct prevent his apprehension. Second, Lofton contends that no…