United States v. Thomas L. Williams

ORDER

The memorandum disposition filed November 5, 1993 is redesignated as a per curiam opinion.

OPINION

Thomas Williams was convicted of threatening certain federal officials in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 115 (a)(1)(B). After determining that the proper sentencing guideline was U.S.S.G. § 2A6.1 (threatening communications), the district judge adjusted Williams’ offense level three points pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3A1.2 because his offense involved an official victim. The issue presented is whether the district court erred in upwardly adjusting Williams’ sentence for official victim status.

Williams argues that enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 3A1.2 constitutes improper double-counting, either because section 2A6.1 already incorporates the status of the victim in setting its base offense level or, in the alternative, because official victim status is an element of his underlying offense. Both of these contentions fail.

Williams was sentenced under section 2A6.1, a Chapter Two, Part A offense. The guideline commentary to section 3A1.2 reads:

U.S.S.G. § 3A1.2, comment, n. 3 (emphasis added). This commentary states in clear and simple language that the only offense in Chapter Two, Part…