United States of America v. Elias Quinones-Figueroa

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Argued June 1, 2023
Decided June 5, 2023
Before
FRANK H. EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge
DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judge
DORIS L. PRYOR, Circuit Judge
No. 22-2367
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
ELIAS QUINONES-FIGUEROA,
Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States
District Court for the North-
ern District of Illinois, Eastern
Division.
No. 20 CR 631
Virginia M. Kendall, Judge.
O R D E R
Elias Quinones-Figueroa pleaded guilty to carjacking, 18 U.S.C. §2119, and bran-
dishing a firearm during that crime, 18 U.S.C. §924(c)(1)(A). The district court sentenced
him to 151 months’ imprisonment, and this appeal concerns two enhancements under
the Sentencing Guidelines that may have influenced this sentence.
After stealing a car at gunpoint, Quinones-Figueroa and a friend went cruising
on the streets of Chicago. About three hours after the theft, Quinones-Figueroa (who
was driving) saw a police car behind him and concluded that he was at risk of appre-
hension. Quinones-Figueroa sped off, and a chase ensued. He blazed through red lights

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No. 22-2367 Page 2
and stop signs at speeds up to 78 miles an hour. While on a residential street, and mov-
ing about 60 miles an hour, the stolen car struck a bicycle, whose rider received life-
threatening (and permanent) injuries. Quinones-Figueroa did not stop to render assis-
tance. Instead he swerved into the lane of oncoming traffic and, about 150 feet farther
on, crashed into a parked SUV. The crash disabled the stolen car. Quinones-Figueroa
fled on foot but was apprehended by bystanders, who held him until the police arrived.
The district court added six offense levels under U.S.S.G. §2B3.1(b)(3)(C) for in-
juring the bicycle rider. Quinones-Figueroa’s lawyer observes that the events of the
chase did not occur during the carjacking, but U.S.S.G. §1B1.3(a)(1)(A) instructs courts
to include events “that occurred during the commission of the offense of conviction, in
preparation for that offense, or in the course of attempting to avoid detection or respon-
sibility for that offense”. See also U.S.S.G. §1B1.3(a)(3) (specific offense characteristics
must include “all harm that resulted from the acts and omissions specified in”
§1B1.3(a)(1)).
These Guidelines do not draw a temporal line and certainly do not mean that,
once the offense of conviction is complete (as the carjacking was complete when Qui-
nones-Figueroa drove off in the stolen car), attempts to escape apprehension must be
ignored. See, e.g., United States v. Muhammad, 948 F.2d 1449, 1456 (6th Cir. 1991). The
high-speed flight was an effort “to avoid … responsibility for” the carjacking. Qui-
nones-Figueroa is accountable for the injuries he inflicted in his attempt to remain at lib-
erty. The Sentencing Commission might or might not think it wise to add some kind of
temporal limit to the accountability Guideline, but the judiciary will not limit this text
under the guise of interpretation. (Cases such as United States v. Purham, 754 F.3d 411
(7th Cir. 2014), and United States v. Donaby, 349 F.3d 1046 (7th Cir. 2003), on which Qui-
nones-Figueroa relies, involved different Guidelines or, for Donaby, a different statute,
with different language.)
The chase itself, and the crash into the SUV that brought it to a close, led to a sec-
ond enhancement, this time under U.S.S.G. §3C1.2. This Guideline reads: “If the defend-
ant recklessly created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury to another per-
son in the course of fleeing from a law enforcement officer, increase by 2 levels.” Qui-
nones-Figueroa wants us to treat this as redundant with the enhancement under
§2B3.1(b)(3)(C), but it is not. The §2B3.1(b)(3)(C) enhancement reflects the injury to the
bicycle rider. The §3C1.2 enhancement reflects the risk to everyone else: pedestrians,
other drivers, any occupants of the SUV, and so on. A high-speed chase can have many
victims. This chase left one person with severe injuries and put others at substantial
risk. Separate enhancements that reflect these separate matters are appropriate.
AFFIRMED

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