United States v. Linda Bachiero

We continue down the long and winding road toward uniform sentencing under the federal Sentencing Guidelines.

I

Linda Bachiero robbed a bank; during the robbery, she gave the teller a not-so-friendly note: “Your money or your life, quick.” She was indicted for the robbery and pled guilty. At sentencing on November 13, 1990, the district court enhanced Bachiero’s offense level two levels under Guidelines section 2B3.1(b)(2)(D) for expressly threatening death. Bachiero contends that this enhancement was erroneous.

Her argument is at best facetious. Application Note 7 to section 2B3.1 provides that a threat of death may be made “in the form of an oral or written statement, act, gesture, or combination thereof.” It gives as an example a written note saying “Give me the money or you are dead.” Bachie-ro’s threat is clearly covered by section 2B3.1; the district court thus correctly enhanced Bachiero’s sentence.

II

For purposes of calculating a defendant’s criminal history, “[pjrior sentences imposed in related cases are to be treated as one sentence.” U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(a)(2). Application Note 3 to this section states that “prior sentences are considered related if they ... (3) were…