Sentencing Guidelines and Jurisdiction

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Stacy M. Haynes v. United States of America

Case No.: 17-1680

Officials: BAUER, EASTERBROOK, and MANION, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines and Jurisdiction

In 1998 Stacy Haynes was convicted of 12 federal crimes and sentenced to life plus 105 years in prison. The district court concluded that Haynes’s §1952(a)(2) convictions should be classified the same way as the §1951 offense, because his interstate travel set the stage for robberies. Haynes immediately appealed, and his brief in this court contends that, whatever may hold for Hobbs Act robbery, the crime of interstate travel for the purpose of committing racketeering does not satisfy the elements clause of §924(c)(3)(A).

At oral argument we asked the parties to file memoranda discussing Andrews and later decisions such as Hammer. To their credit, they acknowledged the jurisdictional problem. We understand why Haynes filed an immediate appeal; his lawyer was concerned that, if he waited until the resentencing, the prosecutor might contend that the time to appeal had expired. But with today’s opinion the law in the Seventh Circuit is clear. We agree with Hammer, Hayes, Futch, Stitt, and Martin, and we hold that, whether a §2255 proceeding concerns one count or many counts, when a district court orders resentencing on any count, the decision is not final until the new sentence has been imposed. The appeal is dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

Dismissed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.