Case ID: f-appx_54/html/0250-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Mariano VALLES-HERRERA, Appellant.
    No. 02-2630.
    United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
    Submitted Dec. 30, 2002.
    Decided Jan. 10, 2003.
    Before McMILLIAN, FAGG, and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM.

Mariano Valles-Herrera pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and he was sentenced to 168 months imprisonment and five years supervised release. On appeal, Valles-Herrera argues the district court erroneously imposed a two-level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(b)(l) for possessing a firearm during the commission of the offense. We disagree. The district court was presented with evidence Valles-Herrera lived in the residence in which the firearm was found, see United States v. Boykin, 986 F.2d 270, 274 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 888, 114 S.Ct. 241, 126 L.Ed.2d 195 (1993), and the firearm was in plain sight in the living room, making it accessible to protect the drugs, drug paraphernalia, and drug money also found in the residence, see U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, comment. (n.3); United States v. Macklin, 104 F.3d 1046, 1048 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 891, 118 S.Ct. 229, 139 L.Ed.2d 161 (1997).

We thus affirm Valles-Herrera’s sentence. 
      
       The Honorable Richard G. Kopf, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.