PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ______________ No. 18-2048 ______________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. JAMES JOHNMAN, JR., Appellant ______________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. No. 2-17-cr-00245-001) District Judge: Honorable Wendy Beetlestone ______________ Argued September 17, 2019 Before: KRAUSE, MATEY, and RENDELL, Circuit Judges. (Filed: January 28, 2020) Alison Brill (Argued) Office of the Federal Public Defender 22 South Clinton Avenue Station Plaza #4, 4th Floor Trenton, New Jersey 08609 Counsel for Appellant William M. McSwain Priya Desouza Nancy Rue Robert A. Zauzmer (Argued) Office of the United States Attorney 615 Chestnut Street Suite 1250 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106 Counsel for Appellee ______________ OPINION ______________ MATEY, Circuit Judge. The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), 18 U.S.C. § 3014, requires a special monetary assessment from all persons “convicted of an offense” under certain federal laws. James Johnman, Jr. was convicted under three of those laws and ordered to pay $5,000 for each conviction, $15,000 in total. That, in Johnman’s view, is too high. He argues the JVTA should be read to impose only one assessment per case, not one assessment per count of qualifying conviction. Using standard tools of statutory interpretation, we conclude the JVTA’s assessment applies to each conviction. So we will affirm the sentence set by the District Court. 2 I. BACKGROUND Johnman signed a plea agreement with the United States admitting to three offenses involving the exploitation of children: use of an interstate facility to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) (Count One); distribution of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2) (Count Two); and possession of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4) (Count Three). And the plea agreement provides a helpful roadmap to frame the issue in this appeal. First, each count—and the corresponding maximum penalty—appears in an individual subparagraph of the agreement. There, together with the term of imprisonment, supervised release, and other monetary penalties faced, each subparagraph reads, “and a $5,000 special victims assessment under 18 U.S.C. § 3014.” (App. at 15–16.) Second, for clarity, a separate subparagraph aggregates all the maximum and mandatory minimum penalties in the three counts, including “an additional $15,000 special victims assessment under 18 U.S.C. § 3014.” (App. at 16.) Third, yet another provision of the agreement stipulates that “[Johnman] agrees to pay the special victims and court assessments in the amount of $15,300 before the time of sentencing or at a time directed by this Court.”1 (App. at 17.) And for good measure, the District Court explained the $15,000 assessment at Johnman’s plea hearing. Johnman offered no objections to any of these terms. Finding the agreement satisfactory, the District Court sentenced Johnman to 368 months of incarceration, a lifetime of supervised release, $1,000 restitution, and $15,300 in 1 The additional $300 stems from separate, $100-per- count assessments imposed under 18 U.S.C. § 3013. 3 special assessments. After the entry of ...
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