In U.S. v. McGuiness, No. 05-10797 (June 15, 2006), the Court affirmed the imposition a two-level obstruction of justice sentence enhancement on a defendant convicted of escape.
While a federal fugitive, McGuiness was approached by officers at a restaurant. McGuiness presented a false i.d. and claimed he was staying at nearby Holiday Inn. Police released him when his false name did not turn up on their database. Several hours later, when police realized no one by the assumed name was staying at the Holiday Inn, police, using a tracking dog and helicopter, after 24 hours, found the defendant hiding in woods near his hotel.
At sentencing, the district court imposed a two-level sentence enhancement for obstruction of justice, based on USSG § 3C1.1, cmt. n.4, which provides that this enhancement applies when a defendant provides a materially false statement to a law enforcement officer that significantly impeded the investigation. The Court affirmed this finding, noting that the use of a police dog and helicopter would not have been necessary had the defendant been truthful about his identity when first approached.
The Court rejected McGuiness’ argument that an obstruction enhancement should not apply to an escape offense, because conduct to elude capture is inherent in the continuing offense of escape. The Court noted that the Guidelines exclude some offenses from the obstruction enhacement’s application; however, escape was not one of the excluded offenses. Moreover, use of false identification makes it more difficult for law enforcement to locate an escapee.
The Court rejected the defendant’s argument that he should not have been ordered to pay a $4,000 fine, because of his inability to pay. The Court cited the defendant’s own statement that he had hidden cash away before commencing his prison term.
