Background
Frank Marrupe was arrested in Florida for possessing a firearm as a felon and openly carrying a weapon. He pleaded guilty to the federal charge of violating 18 United States Code Section 922 subsection g one and was sentenced to sixty-three months in prison. The district court ordered his federal sentence to run consecutively to his anticipated state sentence without explaining why it did not follow the guidelines for concurrent sentencing.
The court’s reasoning
The court held that its precedent in United States v. Rozier and United States v. Dubois foreclosed Marrupe’s Second Amendment challenge to the statute. Regarding the sentence, the court found plain error because the district court failed to calculate the applicable Guidelines range under Section 5G1.3 and failed to adequately explain the variance from the Guidelines when ordering consecutive sentences.
What it means going forward
Defendants facing similar consecutive sentencing issues for conduct underlying both state and federal charges must ensure the district court considers Guidelines Section 5G1.3 to avoid remand.