In U.S. v. Washington, No. 05-10474 (Jan. 6, 2005), the Court (Carnes, Hull & Pryor) the Court upheld a "reckless endangerment" sentence enhancement under USSG § 3C1.2. The Court noted that Washington drove at a "high rate of speed" in his vehicle while to trying to elude police after his bank robbery, and entered an underground parking garage while people were coming in and getting onto the elevator.
The Court also affirmed the order of restitution to the Police Department and the Condominium Association, based on damage to a police vehicle, and to a building security gate, caused when the police attempted to follow Washington into the garage and broke the gate and damaged their vehicle. The Court recognized earlier precedent which had excluded from restitution coverage injury "as a result of" a defendant’s action, and limited losses to those underlying the offense of conviction (in this case, a bank robbery, not the subsequent chase). But the Court found that the Restitution Act had been amended in 2005 to include proximate harms. Hence, the prior cases were inapposite, and the district court correctly included the Police Department and Condominium Association losses in its restitution calculation.
