United States District Court, D. Alaska
ORDER RE § 2255 MOTION
SHARON
L. GLEASON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Before
the Court at Docket 37 is Defendant Quincy Leafstedt's
Motion to Correct Sentence Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255.
The Government filed a response at Docket 39.
BACKGROUND
On May
20, 2015, Quincy Leafstedt was indicted on charges related to
child pornography.[1] Mr. Leafstedt ultimately pleaded guilty to
one count of possession of child pornography.[2] Applying the
United States Sentencing Commission's Federal Sentencing
Guidelines, the Presentence Report calculated Mr.
Leafstedt's total offense level at 30.[3]At sentencing, the
Court adopted the guidelines calculation set out in the
Presentence Report.[4] On February 28, 2017, the Court sentenced
Mr. Leafstedt to a below guidelines term of 75 months'
imprisonment.[5]
DISCUSSION
Mr.
Leafstedt asserts that he should have received “a 2
level downward departure based on United States Sentencing
Guidelines § 2G2.2(b)(1) which provides for a . . . 2
level reduction in the Base Offense Level in light of there
having [been] no ‘distribution' of unlawful images
under the circumstances of his case.”[6] Mr. Leafstedt
“contends that such a 2 level reduction in the Base
Offense Level was not provided, and that he is so entitled to
receive it.”[7] U.S.S.G. § 2G2.2(b)(1) provides:
If (A) subsection (a)(2) applies; (B) the defendant's
conduct was limited to the receipt or solicitation of
material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor; and
(C) the defendant did not intend to traffic in, or
distribute, such material, decrease [the offense level] by 2
levels.[8]
By its
own language, § 2G2.2(b)(1) only allows for a 2 level
decrease if § 2G2.2(a)(2) applies. Section 2G2.2(a)
provides:
(a)
Base Offense Level:
(1) 18,
if the defendant is convicted of 18 U.S.C. § 1466A(b),
§ 2252(a)(4), § 2252A(a)(5), or § 2252A(a)(7).
(2) 22,
otherwise.
Thus,
the 2 level reduction provided for by § 2G2.2(b)(1) only
applies when a defendant's base offense level is 22.
However, Mr. Leafstedt pleaded guilty to a violation of
§ 2252(a)(4), and therefore his base offense level was
18.[9]
Accordingly, he was not entitled to the 2 level decrease
provided in § 2G2.2(b)(1).
Furthermore,
Mr. Leafstedt did not receive an increase in offense level
for distribution. As the PSR states under Specific Offense
Characteristics:
If the defendant knowingly engaged in distribution, other
than distribution described in subdivisions (A) through (E),
the offense level is increased by two levels. U.S.S.G.
2G2.2(b)(3)(F). In this case, although Leafstedt was using a
peer-2-peer sharing system and the FBI SA was able to
download a series of videos from Leaftstedt's [sic]
computer, there has been no evidence submitted to verify that
...