Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca5-13-40219/USCOURTS-ca5-13-40219-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Terrance Booker
Appellant
Kevin Harden
Appellant
Bajune Moseby
Appellant
James R. Romans
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 13-40219

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

JAMES R. ROMANS, also known as Red; BAJUNE MOSEBY, also known as 

Junebug; KEVIN HARDEN, also known as Keisha; TERRANCE BOOKER, 

also known as T. B., 

 Defendants - Appellants

Appeals from the United States District Court

for the Eastern District of Texas

Before DENNIS and COSTA, Circuit Judges, and ENGELHARDT, District 

Judge.*

JAMES L. DENNIS, Circuit Judge:

The defendants, James Romans, Bajune Moseby, Kevin Harden, and 

Terrance Booker, were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to possess with the 

intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, 21 U.S.C. § 846. The 

district court sentenced Romans to life imprisonment; Moseby to 293 months’ 

imprisonment; Harden to 360 months’ imprisonment; and Booker to 280 

months’ imprisonment. For the following reasons, the convictions of all of the 

 

* District Judge of the Eastern District of Louisiana, sitting by designation.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

May 19, 2016

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

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defendants, and the sentences of Harden, Booker, and Romans, are affirmed, 

but Moseby’s sentence is vacated, and his case is remanded for resentencing 

consistent with this opinion.

I.

In 2006, James Romans and Eric Pieper began running a marijuana 

distribution operation in Indianapolis, Indiana. Initially, Pieper bought 1,000 

pounds of marijuana every week from the Mexican supplier Cruz López 

Acevedo (“López”) for distribution. Trucks brought the marijuana into the U.S. 

from Mexico in 22-pound boxes, which were lined with carbon paper to conceal 

the drug’s odor; the shipments were delivered to two warehouses and a storage 

yard in Indianapolis, where the marijuana was then transported to stash 

houses for sorting and repackaging for distribution. Pieper and Romans 

shared the associated expenses and split the resulting profits equally. Their 

operation involved a number of other people, divided into two groups: Pieper 

was responsible for one group, which included Terrance Booker, Kevin Harden, 

and Bajune Moseby, while Romans was responsible for the other group, which 

included Gary Hanley, Michael Smith, Matthew White, and Jeremy Martin. 

One of Pieper’s close friends, Dale Zigler, was responsible for collecting drug 

proceeds from other members of the organization. After Pieper moved to 

Burleson, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth, in 2009, Zigler continued to collect 

the drug proceeds in Indianapolis and delivered them by car to Pieper in Texas.

Romans was arrested by Indiana law enforcement in August 2010. A 

search warrant on his residence yielded $24,000, two loaded .45 caliber 

Springfield Armory hand guns, and a loaded Glock 357 handgun. According to 

the agent executing the search, the Glock was in the kitchen on top of a drug 

ledger. Romans entered a guilty plea to state charges of financing the delivery 

of over 10 pounds of marijuana and was sentenced, on October 7, 2010, to 

probation. Pieper testified that two weeks after Romans’ arrest, while Romans

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was on work release, he called Pieper and said that he “was hurting really bad, 

and that he wanted to get back going again.” Romans reportedly told Pieper 

that he would pay cash for marijuana and that the members of his group were 

waiting to buy marijuana from him. Because “everybody was . . . skeptical 

about messing with him” and thought he might be cooperating with the 

government, Pieper testified that he refused to do business with Romans.

In November 2010, Pieper decided to promote Moseby and Harden

within the organization. Pieper, Moseby, and Harden met in Texas and 

attended a professional boxing match in Dallas. Ultimately, the men agreed 

that Pieper and Moseby would each receive 35 percent of the profits from the 

drug trafficking business, while Harden would receive 30 percent. During the 

trip, the men bought new cellphones and drove to Frisco, Texas—in the 

Eastern District—where Pieper was planning to move. On December 31, 2010, 

Zigler flew from Indianapolis to Dallas-Fort Worth to help Pieper move to 

Frisco; he brought $9,000 in drug proceeds with him. Two weeks later, on 

January 13, 2011, Zigler again flew to Texas to help Pieper finish the move

from Burleson to Frisco. On this trip, Zigler brought drug proceeds that he 

had collected from Harden.

The Indiana police and the DEA began collecting information about the 

organization practically at its inception. On January 25, 2007, Moseby and 

four other men convened in a truck stop in Indianapolis to meet a semi-truck—

driven by an undercover DEA agent—which contained a shipment of 1,000

pounds of marijuana sent by López. Moseby watched as two of the men 

transferred the shipment from the truck to a Chevrolet Tahoe; he then picked 

the two men up in his own vehicle and followed the Tahoe, driven by a third 

man, out of the truck stop. Indiana State Police soon pulled over the Tahoe

and later stopped and identified Moseby. On September 16, 2010, police in 

Indianapolis stopped a white van driven by Delores Jose Montes-Venegas, one 

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of López’s runners. The van had previously been seen at Romans’s and Harden’s 

houses. When the officer approached, he noticed the strong odor of raw 

marijuana and noted that Montes-Venegas was very nervous and sweating 

profusely. Police searched the van and found 89 apparently identical boxes—

lined with carbon paper—each containing two 11-pound bundles of marijuana. 

Appellant Booker also had multiple encounters with law enforcement, 

culminating in a December 30, 2010, traffic stop during which an officer from 

the Speedway Police Department in Indiana found five Ziploc bags of 

marijuana, weighing roughly five pounds, in Booker’s vehicle. Booker told the 

responding detective that he recently received the marijuana from other 

members of the conspiracy and intended to sell it for $850 per pound.

On June 8, 2011, an indictment was filed against Romans, Moseby, 

Harden, Booker, and 12 other individuals in the United States District Court 

for the Eastern District of Texas. A superseding indictment was filed on 

January 11, 2012. Several of the charged individuals, including Eric Pieper 

and his brother, Michael Pieper, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and did 

not go to trial but became government witnesses against the other coconspirators. In September 2012, after a trial, a jury convicted Romans, 

Moseby, Harden, and Booker of conspiracy to possess with the intent to 

distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 

§ 846, as charged in Count One of the superseding indictment. Thereafter, on 

February 24, 2013, the district court sentenced Romans to life imprisonment,

Moseby to 293 months’ imprisonment, Harden to 360 months’ imprisonment,

and Booker to 280 months’ imprisonment. 

II.

On appeal, Romans, Moseby, Harden, and Booker contend that the 

district court erred in denying their motions for judgment of acquittal based on 

the argument that venue was improper in the Eastern District of Texas. When 

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a venue challenge is properly preserved by a motion for judgment of acquittal, 

we review the district court’s ruling de novo. United States v. Thomas, 690 F.3d 

358, 368 (5th Cir. 2012). After considering the evidence in the light most 

favorable to the verdict, we will affirm where “a rational jury could conclude 

‘that the government established venue by a preponderance of the evidence.’” 

Id. (quoting United States v. Garcia Mendoza, 587 F.3d 682, 686 (5th Cir. 

2009)); see also United States v. White, 611 F.2d 531, 536 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 

446 U.S. 992 (1980) (“This Circuit has not treated territorial jurisdiction and 

venue as ‘essential elements’ in the sense that proof beyond a reasonable doubt 

is required.”).

The general statute that seeks to clarify venue in the case of multidistrict crimes is 18 U.S.C. § 3237. It provides that any offense begun in one 

district, but completed in another, or committed in more than one district, may 

be prosecuted in any district in which the offense was begun, continued, or 

completed. 18 U.S.C. § 3237(a). Thus, “[v]enue can be based on evidence of 

any single act that initiated, perpetuated, or completed the crime, and 

circumstantial evidence suffices to establish venue.” Thomas, 690 F.3d at 369. 

In conspiracy cases, “venue is proper in any district where the agreement was 

formed or an overt act occurred.” United States v. Caldwell, 16 F.3d 623, 624 

(5th Cir. 1994). As we noted in Caldwell, “[t]he Supreme Court has upheld the 

application of this rule, even where it permits trial against defendants in a 

district they never even set foot in prior to trial.” Id. at 624 (citing Hyde v. 

United States, 225 U.S. 347, 362 (1912)). “An overt act is an act performed to 

effect the object of a conspiracy, although it remains separate and distinct from 

the conspiracy itself.” United States v. Pomranz, 43 F.3d 156, 160 (5th Cir. 

1995). “Though the act need not be of a criminal nature, it must be done in 

furtherance of the object of the conspiracy.” Id. Finally, “[a]s a matter of law, 

a conspiracy continues until the evidence affirmatively shows that the 

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conspirators terminate the alleged conspiracy, or with respect to conspirators 

individually, until the conspirators withdraw.” United States v. Freeman, 434 

F.3d 369, 383 (5th Cir. 2005). Where a conspiracy to possess with intent to 

distribute drugs “contemplates a continuity of purpose and continued 

performance of acts, [the conspiracy] is presumed to exist until there has been 

an affirmative showing that it has terminated.” Id. at 383 n.2 (quoting United 

States v. Mayes, 512 F.2d 637, 642-43 (6th Cir. 1975)). 

In Garcia Mendoza this court held that “one co-conspirator’s travel 

through a judicial district in furtherance of the crime alleged establishes venue 

as to all co-conspirators.” 587 F.3d at 687. This court has recognized that, in 

a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute drugs, “[t]he overall objective 

or goal [is] for everyone in the conspiracy to profit from the illicit purchase and 

selling of [drugs].” United States v. Morris, 46 F.3d 410, 415 (5th Cir. 1995). 

Thus the transportation of drug proceeds is an act in furtherance of a drug 

conspiracy. See United States v. Ramirez, 555 F. App’x 315, 319 (5th Cir. 2014) 

(unpublished); United States v. Anthony, 201 F. App’x 211, 213 (5th Cir. 2006) 

(unpublished). In this case, Dale Zigler testified that after Eric Pieper moved 

from Indiana to Grand Prairie, Texas, in 2009, Zigler routinely collected drug 

proceeds from Appellants in Indianapolis and drove the money to Pieper in 

Texas, every time taking a route that passed through the Eastern District.1 A 

page of the road atlas that Zigler used on his trips was entered into evidence, 

 

1 Although Zigler was not charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute

marijuana, he testified that he was involved in Appellants’ organization. Specifically, he 

stated that “[his] role was to pick up the drug money when [he] was directed to do so.” A 

rational jury could have determined that Zigler’s membership in the conspiracy and his 

transportation of drugs in furtherance of that conspiracy were proven by a preponderance of 

the evidence. See Anthony, 201 F. App’x at 213 (finding that the evidence was sufficient to 

support the defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute where 

“the record supports a finding that [he] knew the co-conspirators, knew of the conspiracy, and 

knew that his actions [transporting drug proceeds] were in furtherance of that conspiracy”). 

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on which a section of this route—I-30 connecting Texarkana and Dallas, 

crossing the Eastern District—was highlighted. Eric Pieper testified that he 

directed Zigler to make the trips from Indiana to Texas and that each time he 

would arrange for either Romans or Moseby to meet Zigler and give him the 

cash proceeds. Eric Pieper’s brother Michael, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy 

charges for his participation in the drug organization, testified that after he 

moved to Burleson, Texas, in May 2010, he drove to Indianapolis to pick up 

drug proceeds five or six times and followed I-30 from Texarkana into the 

Dallas-Fort Worth area. Thus the record contains evidence that at least two 

members of the conspiracy traveled through the Eastern District of Texas to 

transport drug proceeds, an act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Viewing the 

evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that a rational 

finder of fact could have found that venue in the Eastern District of Texas was 

proven by a preponderance of the evidence.

III.

Individually, Appellant Booker argues that the evidence at trial was 

insufficient to establish that he was a member of the charged conspiracy. We 

review challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence de novo. United States v. 

Grant, 683 F.3d 639, 642 (5th Cir. 2012). This court reviews the record to 

determine whether, considering the evidence and all reasonable inferences in 

the light most favorable to the prosecution, “any rational trier of fact could 

have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” 

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789 (1979). Our

“inquiry is limited to whether the jury’s verdict was reasonable, not whether 

we believe it to be correct.” United States v. Moreno-Gonzales, 662 F.3d 369, 

372 (5th Cir. 2011). Thus, in this instance, we must determine whether the 

evidence presented at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the 

government, was sufficient to allow the jury to conclude, beyond a reasonable 

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doubt, that Booker participated in the marijuana distribution conspiracy led 

by Pieper.

“In order to prove conspiracy to possess and distribute drugs, the 

Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) the existence of an 

agreement between two or more persons; (2) the defendant’s knowledge of the 

agreement; and (3) the defendant’s voluntary participation in the conspiracy.” 

United States v. Tenoio, 360 F.3d 491, 494 (5th Cir. 2004). An agreement may 

be inferred from a “concert of action,” United States v. Landry, 903 F.2d 334, 

338 (5th Cir. 1990), and “[t]he agreement, a defendant’s guilty knowledge and 

a defendant’s participation in the conspiracy all may be inferred from the 

‘development and collocation of circumstances.’” United States v. Maltos, 985 

F.2d 743, 746 (5th Cir. 1992). 

Eric Pieper testified that Booker was one of his “people,” one of the 

customers in Indianapolis through whom he distributed the marijuana 

shipments arriving weekly from Mexico. Pieper testified that his brother 

Michael delivered marijuana to Booker. Zigler testified that Pieper once 

directed him to pick up money from Booker and that Booker gave him $10,000 

in a Ziploc bag. John Wilson, who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy, testified 

that Pieper once sent Booker to deliver a box of marijuana to him. Photographs 

were introduced into evidence showing Booker on vacation with Appellant 

Harden and Eric and Michael Pieper and in a limousine with supplier López. 

And evidence was presented that police found boxes lined with carbon paper—

a method used by the organization to conceal the smell of marijuana—

throughout Booker’s home, some empty and some containing bricks or bags of 

marijuana. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we 

find that the Government presented significant evidence of concurring acts, 

actors, and events—a “collocation of circumstances,” Maltos, 985 F.2d at 746—

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from which a rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt 

that Booker was a member of the charged conspiracy. 

IV.

Individually, Appellant Harden argues that the district court abused its 

discretion by refusing to appoint substitute counsel for him; that he did not 

knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his right to counsel; that his 

bottom-of-the-Guidelines sentence of 360 months is substantively 

unreasonable; and that his sentence should be vacated as void in light of the 

Supreme Court’s recent decision in Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551,

2536 (2015), holding that the imposition of an increased sentence under the 

residual clause in the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) violates the 

Constitution’s guarantee of due process.

A.

We review Sixth Amendment claims de novo. United States v. Simpson, 

645 F.3d 300, 307 (5th Cir. 2011). An indigent defendant who cannot afford to 

retain an attorney has an absolute right to have counsel appointed by the court. 

See Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 342 (1963); Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 

U.S. 458, 463 (1938). Further, “the right to counsel is the right to the effective 

assistance of counsel.” McMann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759, 771, n. 14 (1970). 

Absent a Sixth Amendment violation, a court’s refusal to appoint substitute 

counsel is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Simpson, 645 F.3d at 307. “A 

district court abuses its discretion if it bases its decision on an error of law or 

a clearly erroneous assessment of the evidence.” United States v. Teuschler, 

689 F.3d 397, 399 (5th Cir.2012) (internal quotation marks and citations 

omitted). “In order to warrant a substitution of counsel during trial, the 

defendant must show good cause, such as a conflict of interest, a complete 

breakdown in communication or an irreconcilable conflict which leads to an 

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apparently unjust verdict.” United States v. Young, 482 F.2d 993, 995 (5th Cir. 

1973) (quoting United States v. Calabro, 2d Cir. 1972, 467 F.2d 973, 986).

Harden was appointed counsel, and he does not allege that his

representation by the appointed counsel was constitutionally deficient. 

Rather, he argues that lack of communication and disagreements with his 

attorney constituted good cause that should have entitled him to substitute 

counsel. Harden points to three letters that he filed with the district court in 

which he voiced complaints about his appointed counsel. In the first, Harden 

cited lack of communication with the attorney, Reginald Smith, and 

complained that Smith did not listen to his concerns about the case. After a 

hearing, Harden informed the court that he and Smith had talked and he 

wanted to withdraw his complaint. In the second, Harden again noted that he 

was having “major problems with” Smith and expressed concern that the 

attorney had “a negative attitude” towards him and believed that he was 

guilty. Six months later, after Smith had filed several motions in limine on 

his behalf, Harden submitted his third letter, in which he complained that 

Smith was not filing the motions that he wanted him to file and asserted that 

he wanted to proceed pro se. Soon afterward, Smith moved to withdraw. 

Smith’s motion informed the court that Harden had filed a grievance against 

him with the State Bar of Texas. Smith noted that, although the grievance 

was dismissed, he had sought Harden’s written agreement to waive the 

potential conflict it caused. Smith continued to file motions on Harden’s behalf 

until the court granted Harden’s motion to represent himself. 

Although it is evident that Harden mistrusted and disliked Smith, there 

is no indication that there was a “complete breakdown in communication” or 

an “irreconcilable conflict” between the two, nor is there any evidence of a 

conflict of interest. The district court held a hearing after receiving each of 

Harden’s letters and determined that good cause had not been shown to 

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warrant replacing Smith. Harden has not shown that the district court abused 

its discretion by failing to appoint substitute counsel. See Simpson 645 F.3d 

at 308-09.

B.

We review claims concerning the right of self-representation de novo. 

United States v. Cano, 519 F.3d 512, 515-16 (5th Cir. 2008). A criminal 

defendant has a Sixth Amendment right to conduct his own defense, even if he 

does so to his detriment, if his decision to do so is voluntary, knowing, and 

intelligent. Farretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 833-34, 835-36 (1975). The 

defendant must “unequivocally inform the court of his desire to represent 

himself,” and the court must determine, through a Farretta hearing, whether 

the defendant is “knowingly and intelligently” choosing to represent himself. 

Cano, 519 F.3d at 516. 

Harden argues that his decision was involuntary because it occurred 

only after the district court refused to substitute counsel. Although a court 

cannot force a defendant to choose between constitutionally deficient or 

disqualified counsel and no counsel at all, “[a] defendant’s refusal without good 

cause to proceed with able appointed counsel constitutes a voluntary” decision 

to proceed pro se. Dunn v. Johnson, 162 F.3d 302, 307 (5th Cir. 1998). Harden 

does not allege that Smith’s performance was constitutionally deficient, and,

as previously discussed, he did not show good cause to warrant substitution of

counsel. Furthermore, at the June 5, 2012 Faretta hearing at which the 

district court granted Harden’s request to proceed pro se, with attorney Smith 

serving as standby counsel, the court advised Harden against selfrepresentation several times and asked Harden a litany of questions to 

determine whether his decision to represent himself was knowing, intelligent, 

and voluntary. The district court specifically asked Harden if he would still 

want to represent himself if the court “was going to replace Mr. Smith and give 

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[him] different counsel.” Harden responded, “Yeah, I’d like to represent 

myself.” Based on this record, we find that Harden’s decision to represent 

himself was voluntary, knowing, and intelligent.

C.

Harden argues that his within-Guidelines sentence of 360 months

imprisonment is substantively unreasonable and greater than necessary to 

achieve the goals of sentencing under 18 U.S.C. § 3553. We review a sentence 

for reasonableness using a two-step process: first, we must ensure that the 

district court did not commit any significant procedural error; then, we must 

consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence imposed under an 

abuse-of-discretion standard, taking into account the totality of the 

circumstances. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 (2007). Sentences within 

the properly calculated Guidelines range are presumed to be substantively 

reasonable. United States v. Gutierrez-Hernandez, 531 F.3d 251, 254 (5th Cir. 

2009). We “will give great deference to [a procedurally reasonable, withinGuidelines] sentence and will infer that the [district] judge has considered all 

the factors for a fair sentence set forth in the Guidelines in light of the 

sentencing considerations set out in § 3553(a).” United States v. ComposMaldondo, 531 F.3d 337, 338 (5th Cir. 2008) (internal quotations and citations 

omitted). To rebut the presumption that sentences within the properly 

calculated Guidelines range are reasonable, a defendant must show that the 

district court did not account for a factor that should have received significant 

weight, gave significant weight to an improper factor, or clearly erred in 

balancing the sentencing factors. United States v. Cooks, 589 F.3d 173, 186 

(5th Cir. 2009). 

Harden does not contend that his sentence was procedurally 

unreasonable, and there is no evidence of procedural error. In arguing that his 

sentence is substantively unreasonable, Harden emphasizes that he will not 

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be released until he is almost 70 years old, and that even at the age of 38 he 

suffers from serious heart problems. Relying on the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in 

United States v. Payton, 754 F.3d 375 (6th Cir. June 12, 2014), Harden 

contends that, in selecting his sentence, the district court erroneously failed to 

take into account that the risk of recidivism is shown to decline after the age 

of 50, in part because older offenders have more health problems than younger 

offenders. In Payton, the Sixth Circuit held that the defendant’s aboveGuidelines sentence of 45 years—more than double the Guidelines

recommendation—was substantively unreasonable in part because of the 

district court’s failure to adequately respond to the defendant’s argument that 

his age would decrease his chances of recidivism. In contrast to Payton, 

Harden received a sentence that was not only within, but actually at the 

bottom of, the advisory Guidelines range. And unlike in Payton, the district 

court here adequately responded to Harden’s argument: the court considered 

Harden’s request for a downward departure but concluded that because his

history of serious health problems had not prevented him from trafficking in 

large quantities of marijuana it was not grounds for a variance. Harden has 

not shown that the district court erred in balancing the sentencing factors or 

that the Guidelines sentence imposed was an abuse of discretion, nor has he 

rebutted the presumption of reasonableness that applies to his bottom-of-theGuidelines sentence.

D.

Harden asserts that because the district court classified him as a career 

offender pursuant to the “residual clause” found at U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, his 

sentence must be vacated in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson,

which held that imposing an increased sentence under the residual clause in 

the ACCA violates the Constitution’s guarantee of due process. 135 S. Ct. at 

2563. Harden argues that because the residual clause in the Sentencing 

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Guidelines is “identical” to that in the ACCA, Johnson’s logic applies with 

equal force to sentences calculated under either statute. Even assuming that 

Johnson does apply to the Guidelines’ residual clause, Harden’s argument 

necessarily fails: the district court’s application of the residual clause did not 

increase Harden’s sentence. In determining Harden’s criminal history 

category the presentence report (PSR) and the district court relied on the 

career offender adjustment in U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(b). Without application of that 

adjustment, Harden’s criminal history category would have been V; with it, the 

PSR and the district court determined that his criminal history category was 

VI. But Harden’s total offense level—based on a finding that he was 

responsible for at least 10,000 kilograms but less than 30,000 kilograms of 

marijuana and that he operated a stash house for the drug organization—was 

38. The range of imprisonment for an offender with a total offense level of 38 

and criminal history category V is the same as that for an offender with a total 

offense level of 38 and criminal history category VI: both yield an advisory

Guidelines range of 360 months to life. U.S.S.G. Chapter 5, Part A. As 

discussed, Harden was sentenced at the bottom of this range. Because 

Harden’s sentence was not increased under the residual clause, we need not 

determine whether, under Johnson, any part of U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 is void.

V.

Appellant Moseby argues, in his pro se brief, that the district court 

plainly erred in failing to dismiss the indictment in light of prosecutorial 

misconduct; that the district court lacked subject-matter, territorial, and 

personal jurisdiction, and that he is entitled to a writ of prohibition; and that 

the district court plainly erred in imposing Sentencing Guidelines 

enhancements on the basis of facts that were not found beyond a reasonable 

doubt by the jury. In his supplemental brief, filed by appointed appellate 

counsel, Moseby argues that the district court erred in enhancing his total 

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offense level based on possession of a firearm pursuant to U.S.S.G. 

§ 2D1.1(b)(1) and that the district court erred in enhancing his total offense 

level by two points for maintaining a drug premises pursuant to U.S.S.G. 

§ 2D1.1(b)(12). 

A.

Moseby argues that the district court erred in failing to dismiss the 

indictment; however, he did not move for dismissal of the indictment before 

trial. Unpreserved allegations of prosecutorial misconduct are reviewed for 

plain error. United States v. Tomblin, 46 F.3d 1369, 1386 (5th Cir. 1995). A 

defendant seeking reversal for plain error must show an error, that was plain, 

and that affected his substantial rights. United States v. Isgar, 739 F.3d 829, 

839 (5th Cir. 2014). If the defendant satisfies these three conditions, we have 

discretion to correct the error, “but only if it seriously affects the fairness, 

integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” United States v. 

Andaverde-Tinoco, 741 F.3d 509, 518 (5th Cir. 2013). The burden remains on 

the defendant to prove this fourth requirement. Id. at 523.

Moseby, in his pro se brief, claims that perjured testimony, “favors,” and 

prosecutorial misconduct led the grand jury to indict. Moseby bears the burden 

of proving that the indictment was procured by prosecutorial misconduct. See

United States v. Marcello, 423 F.2d 993, 1000 (5th Cir. 1970). His assertion 

that the government used perjured testimony and that “favors” were done is

conclusory and not supported by any evidence of record. He has not 

demonstrated that an error occurred, let alone that it was plain and that it 

affected his substantial rights. The district court therefore did not plainly err 

in failing to dismiss the indictment on its own motion.

B.

Moseby argues that the district court lacked subject-matter, territorial, 

and personal jurisdiction, and that he is entitled to a writ of prohibition. We 

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review these issues de novo. Federal district courts have exclusive and original 

jurisdiction over all federal crimes. 18 U.S.C. § 3231. That jurisdiction is 

invoked by an indictment charging a defendant with violating federal law. 

Isgar, 739 F.3d at 838. The right of a federal criminal defendant to be tried in 

the district in which the crime was committed is guaranteed by Article III, 

Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution; the Sixth Amendment; 

and Rule 18 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. “Although the 

Supreme Court has made it clear that questions of venue and territorial 

jurisdiction are not to be taken lightly or treated as mere technicalities, and 

the burden of proving that the crime occurred in the district of trial is squarely 

on the prosecution, the prosecution is not required to meet the reasonable 

doubt standard applicable to all substantive elements of an offense.” White, 

611 F.2d at 534 (internal citations and quotations omitted). Rather, “[i]f the 

Government shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the crime was 

committed in the trial district, both territorial jurisdiction and proper venue 

are established.” Id. at 535.

The superseding indictment specified that Moseby was charged with 

conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, in violation of 21 

U.S.C. § 846, and that overt acts occurred within the trial district. As discussed 

above, the Government established by a preponderance of the evidence that 

venue was proper in the Eastern District of Texas. Given the foregoing, 

Moseby’s jurisdictional arguments are without merit, and he is not entitled to 

a writ of prohibition. See United States v. Hitchmon, 602 F.2d 689, 694 (5th 

Cir. 1979) (a writ of prohibition is appropriate “[i]n the rare case where a 

district court proceeded wrongly, assuming the notice of appeal to be 

ineffective”) (superseded by statute on other grounds as stated in United States 

v. Martinez, 763 F.2d 1297, 1308 (11th Cir. 1985)).

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C.

Moseby does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the 

court’s calculation of his Guidelines range. Rather, he contends that the 

district court plainly erred in imposing Sentencing Guidelines enhancements 

on the basis of facts that were not found beyond a reasonable doubt by the jury. 

In general, facts relevant to sentencing need only be proved by a preponderance 

of the evidence. United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148, 156 (1997). However, in 

Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490 (2000), the Court found that, except 

for the fact of a prior conviction, “any fact that increases the penalty for a crime 

beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and 

proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” In Alleyne v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 

2151, 2155 (2013), the court extended this logic to facts that increase the 

statutory mandatory minimum sentence. The Court in Alleyne did not address 

discretionary guideline enhancements, and as this court noted in United States 

v. Hinojosa, 749 F.3d 407, 411 (5th Cir. 2014), “[t]he Alleyne opinion did not 

imply that the traditional fact-finding on relevant conduct, to the extent it 

increases the discretionary sentencing range for a district judge under the 

Guidelines, must now be made by jurors.”

Moseby was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 

1,000 kilograms of marijuana. According to the PSR, he was responsible for 

5,962 kilograms, resulting in a base offense level of 34. He received a two-level 

upward adjustment for maintaining a premises used to distribute marijuana 

and a two-level upward adjustment for possessing a firearm in connection with 

the drug offense. “Based upon a preponderance of the evidence presented and 

the facts in the report,” the district court concluded that his total offense level 

was 38 and his criminal history level was I, which resulted in an advisory 

guideline range of 235 to 293 months’ imprisonment. After considering the 

§ 3553(a) factors, the court sentenced him to 293 months. His statutory 

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sentencing range was “not less than 10 years or more than life.” 21 U.S.C. 

§ 844; 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A). Because the findings related to drug quantity 

and other guideline adjustments neither increased Moseby’s mandatory 

minimum sentence nor caused his sentence to exceed the statutory maximum, 

but instead only caused his discretionary Guidelines range to exceed the 

statutory minimum, the facts were only required to be proven by a 

preponderance of the evidence. See Hinojosa, 749 F.3d at 412-13. 

D.

Moseby argues that the district court erred in enhancing his total offense 

level based on possession of a firearm in connection with the drug offense 

pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1). This court reviews the district court’s 

interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines de novo. United States v. Serfass, 

684 F.3d 548, 549 (5th Cir. 2010). However, the district court’s determination 

that the enhancement applies is a factual finding reviewed for clear error. 

United States v. King, 773 F.3d 48, 52 (5th Cir. 2014). “A factual finding is not 

clearly erroneous if it is plausible, considering the record as a whole.” Id. 

Furthermore, “a district court is permitted to draw reasonable inferences from 

the facts, and these inferences are fact-findings reviewed for clear error as 

well.” Id.

U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1) provides that a two-offense-level enhancement 

should be applied to the sentence of a defendant convicted of conspiracy to 

possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance “[i]f a dangerous 

weapon (including a firearm) was possessed.” The Government has the burden 

of establishing by a preponderance of the evidence “that a temporal and spatial 

relation existed between the weapon, the drug trafficking activity, and the 

defendant.” United States v. Salado, 339 F.3d 285, 293-94 (5th Cir. 2003). 

Under this standard, “the Government must show that the weapon was found 

in the same location where drugs or drug paraphernalia are stored or where 

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part of the transaction occurred.” Id. at 294. Once the Government has met 

its burden, the defendant can only avoid the enhancement by showing that “it 

was clearly improbable that the weapon was connected with the offense.” 

United States v. Ruiz, 621 F.3d 390, 396 (5th Cir. 2010).

Moseby contends that the Government did not meet its burden. The 

initial PSR recommended an enhancement pursuant to § 2D1.1(b)(1), noting 

that a search of Moseby’s residence had revealed “an AR-15 semi-automatic 

rifle, a Ruger semi-automatic pistol, and large amounts of ammunition and 

marijuana growing equipment.” Moseby objected to the increase on the 

grounds that no illegal drugs were found in the residence and that the 

“marijuana growing equipment” was a hydroponic growing system, which is 

not illegal. Upon further review the probation office agreed; an updated PSR 

stated: “Since no drugs were found at the residence and there was no evidence 

that Moseby conducted drug transactions at this location, the two level 

increase for a dangerous weapon pursuant to USSG § 2D1.1(b)(1) was not 

applied.” The Government objected to the removal of the enhancement, and at 

sentencing called two witnesses to testify in support of their objection. The 

first witness, Texas Department of Public Safety Officer John Logan, testified 

that when he searched Moseby’s home in Arlington, Texas, he discovered 

information on growing hydroponic plants and notes referring to the purchase 

of marijuana seeds in the same room as the rifle and pistol. He testified that 

he did not find any seeds or any drugs in the room with the weapons. The 

second witness, DEA Special Agent Richard Gardner, testified that during a 

subsequent search of the home he discovered “notes that were evidence of the 

conspiracy that was charged in this case”—apparently including a “drug code 

sheet”—and money orders sent between other co-conspirators in the closet 

where the guns were found. Like Logan, Garner stated that he did not find 

any seeds or any drugs in the home. 

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The district court found that the hydroponic growing system was “drug 

paraphernalia” and that the drug code sheet tied the guns to the drug 

conspiracy. We disagree. “Drug paraphernalia” is defined at 21 U.S.C. § 863(d)

as:

any equipment, product, or material of any kind which is primarily 

intended or designed for use in manufacturing, compounding, 

converting, concealing, producing, processing, preparing, 

injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the 

human body a controlled substance, possession of which is 

unlawful under this subchapter.

Although the district court concluded that “it’s naive to think that a member 

of an organization that’s dealing in marijuana in these large quantities and 

has a hydroponic growing system is going to grow tomatoes,” all of the evidence 

presented indicated that the system found in Moseby’s home was primarily 

designed and intended for general gardening use. The evidence did not 

establish that the instructions provided with the system referred to marijuana 

cultivation, see § 863(e)(1), or that any materials explaining the system’s use 

depicted or referred to marijuana, see § 863(e)(2). 

Of course, we are not bound by § 863(d)’s definition of drug 

paraphernalia. Nevertheless, this definition is instructive, particularly when 

viewed in light of our cases applying U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1). We have 

previously applied the label “drug paraphernalia” to crack pipes, United States 

v. Mitchell, 31 F.3d 271, 278 (5th Cir. 1994); “baggies, capsules, an electric 

grinder, two electronic scales, a kitchen strainer, and empty ‘cut’ bottles” found 

in close proximity to capsules of heroin, United States v. King, 773 F.3d 48, 51 

(5th Cir. 2014); and an “electronic scale containing cocaine residue,” United 

States v. Caicedo, 103 F.3d 410, 411. In all of these cases, the items deemed 

“paraphernalia” were clearly and directly related to the production, 

distribution, or consumption of drugs. In this case there was no evidence that 

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the hydroponic growing system had ever been used to grow marijuana and only 

vague circumstantial evidence to suggest that it ever would be.

Furthermore, even if we were to consider it drug paraphernalia, there 

was no evidence linking the growing equipment to the drug trafficking 

conspiracy. Eric Pieper testified that he occasionally purchased hydroponic 

marijuana, but it was never suggested that the organization sought to grow or 

distribute its own product: Pieper testified that the marijuana distributed by 

the organization “always came from Cruz Lopez.” The equipment therefore 

cannot serve to establish “that a temporal and spatial relation existed between 

the weapon, the drug trafficking activity, and the defendant.” Salado, 339 F.3d 

at 293-94.

The drug code sheet similarly fails to establish the necessary nexus. The 

sheet is not itself drug paraphernalia; it is therefore relevant only to the extent 

that it proves that Moseby’s residence is a location “where part of the 

transaction occurred.” Id. at 294. Although the code sheet, which was written 

by Eric Pieper, is circumstantial evidence of Moseby’s participation in 

trafficking activities, its presence in his home does not establish that any of 

those activities took place there. In light of the absence of evidence at trial or 

at sentencing that any drug transactions occurred at Moseby’s residence, the 

district court’s inference drawn from the presence of the code sheet is not 

plausible. Given the absence of evidence that the weapons were found “in the 

same location where drugs or drug paraphernalia [were] stored or where part 

of the transaction occurred,” Id. at 293-94, the Government failed to meet its 

burden, and application of the § 2D1.1(b)(1) enhancement was clearly 

erroneous. We therefore vacate Moseby’s sentence and remand for 

resentencing. 

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E.

Finally, Moseby argues that the district court erred in enhancing his 

total offense level by two points for maintaining a drug premises. U.S.S.G. 

§ 2D1.1(b)(12) provides a two-level enhancement if the defendant “maintained 

a premises for the purpose of manufacturing or distributing a controlled 

substance.” The application notes provide that in determining whether a 

defendant “maintained” a premises, the court should consider “(A) whether the 

defendant held a possessory interest in (e.g., owned or rented) the premises 

and (B) the extent to which the defendant controlled access to, or activities at, 

the premises.” U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 n.17. 

Moseby does not challenge the district court’s finding that his 

Indianapolis residence was a stash house; rather, he maintains that the 

evidence does not establish that he either held a possessory interest in the 

premises or exercised control over the premises. The crux of his argument is

that Eric Pieper paid the rent for the house and directed members of the 

organization regarding operations at the house. At trial, Pieper admitted that 

he “assist[ed] in the paying of rent,” but he stated that Moseby rented the house 

and that it was Moseby who “went and found that [particular] house on his 

own.” Furthermore, Pieper indicated that, although the rent money came out 

of the organization’s drug proceeds, Moseby remained responsible for actually 

paying the landlord. While the source of the rent money is relevant, it is not

determinative of possessory interest: here, Moseby’s interest in the house was 

created by the rental agreement. See, e.g., 52 C.J.S. Landlord & Tenant § 337 

(2015). Finally, although it was established at trial that Pieper and other 

members of the organization participated in trafficking activities at the house, 

no evidence was presented to refute the inference that Moseby had unimpeded 

access to and generally controlled of the use of his residence. See United States 

v. Rodney, 532 F. App’x 465, 473 (5th Cir. 2013) (unpublished) (defendant 

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maintained premises for purposes of U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(12) where he had 

unimpeded access to the premises and used it as he wished). The district 

court’s finding that Moseby maintained the premises is therefore plausible in 

light of the record as a whole, and the application of the § 2D1.1(b)(12) 

enhancement was not clearly erroneous. See King, 773 F.3d at 52.

VI.

Finally, Appellant Romans argues that the District Court erred in

applying a 2-level enhancement, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(12), for 

maintaining a premises for the purpose of manufacturing or distributing a 

controlled substance, because its application violated ex post facto clause or, 

alternatively, because there was insufficient evidence to support it; that the 

District Court erred in enhancing his total offense level based on possession of 

a firearm in connection with the drug offense pursuant to U.S.S.G. 

§ 2D1.1(b)(1); that the District Court erred in applying a 4-level enhancement, 

pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a) for being a leader/organizer, because there was 

insufficient evidence to support it; that his Guidelines sentence of life 

imprisonment is substantively unreasonable; and that the district court 

violated his Eighth Amendment rights by imposing a life sentence of 

imprisonment.

A.

Romans challenges the district court’s application of a sentence

enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(12) on two grounds. First, he 

argues that the application of the enhancement violated the ex post facto 

clause of Article I § 9 of the U.S. Constitution, because he withdrew from the 

drug distribution conspiracy prior to the enactment of that enhancement 

provision on November 1, 2010. See 75 Fed.Reg. 66188 (2010). In Peugh v. 

United States, 133 S.Ct. 2072 (2013), the Supreme Court held that there is an 

ex post facto violation when a defendant is sentenced under Guidelines 

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promulgated after he committed his criminal acts and the new version provides 

a higher applicable Guidelines sentencing range than the version in place at 

the time of the offense. Romans contends that the series of events in evidence 

occurring in August, September, and October of 2010 demonstrates that he 

withdrew from the conspiracy prior to the enactment of U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(12) 

on November 1, 2010. We disagree.

Because conspiracy is a continuing offense, “a defendant who has joined 

a conspiracy continues to violate the law through every moment of the 

conspiracy’s existence, and he becomes responsible for the acts of his coconspirators in pursuit of their common plot.” Smith v. United States, 133 S. 

Ct. 714, 719 (2013) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). A 

defendant’s membership in the ongoing unlawful scheme continues until he 

withdraws. Id. at 717. “Affirmative acts inconsistent with the object of the 

conspiracy and communicated in a manner reasonably calculated to reach coconspirators have been regarded as sufficient to establish withdrawal or 

abandonment.” United States v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. 422, 464-65 (1978). 

“Passive nonparticipation in the continuing scheme is not enough to sever the 

meeting of minds that constitutes the conspiracy.” Smith at 720. Because 

Congress did not address the burden of proof for withdrawal in 21 U.S.C. § 846 

or 21 U.S.C. § 841, we presume that Congress intended to preserve the 

common-law rule that affirmative defenses are matters for the defendant to 

prove. See id.

Applying the foregoing principles, we conclude that Romans has not 

carried his burden of asserting an affirmative defense of withdrawal or of 

proving that he took affirmative acts to disavow or defeat the purpose of the 

conspiracy. In a motion for judgment of acquittal, Romans argued that venue 

was improper as to him in part because his participation in the conspiracy 

ceased at the time of his arrest, before certain criminal acts were committed in 

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the Eastern District of Texas. The district court rejected this argument, 

reasoning that “no evidence was adduced at trial to suggest that Romans 

withdrew from the conspiracy prior to” the commission of the acts in question. 

At sentencing Romans did not object to the district court’s application of the 

sentence enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(12). The evidence presented 

at trial and referenced on appeal does not demonstrate that Romans committed 

any affirmative act to defeat, disavow or discourage the conspiracy. See U.S. 

Gypsum Co., 438 U.S. at 464-65. On August 22, 2010, he was arrested on an 

Indiana state drug charge and placed on work release; in early September 2010 

he called Pieper and requested to resume his active participation in the 

conspiracy but was rebuffed by Pieper; and on October 7, 2010, he pleaded 

guilty to the state drug charge and was placed on probation. In United States 

v. Puig-Infante, 19 F.3d 929, 945 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 864 (1994), 

this court held that “[b]ecause a defendant’s incarceration is not an affirmative 

act on the part of a defendant, it cannot, by itself, constitute withdrawal or 

abandonment.” The evidence does not reflect that Romans reported the drug 

distribution conspiracy to the authorities or in any way communicated to the 

other conspirators his desire or intention to withdraw from the conspiracy. The 

evidence reflects that Pieper and the other conspirators actively carried on the 

drug conspiracy until they were indicted by federal authorities on June 8, 2011.

Consequently, we conclude that Romans has failed to carry his burden of 

proving that he withdrew from the conspiracy before the enhancement 

provision was enacted on November 1, 2010, and thus hold that the application 

of the § 2D1.1(b)(12) enhancement did not violate the ex post facto clause.

Romans also argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the 

application of the enhancement. The application note of U.S.S.G. 

§ 2D1.1(b)(12) states that the enhancement “applies to a defendant who 

knowingly maintains a premises (i.e., a building, room, or enclosure) for the 

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purpose of manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance, including 

storage of a controlled substance for purpose of distribution.” U.S.S.G. 

§ 2D1.1(b)(12) n.17. The application note further provides:

Manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance need not be 

the sole purpose for which the premises was maintained, but must 

be one of the defendant’s primary or principal uses for the 

premises, rather than one of the defendant’s incidental or 

collateral uses for the premises. In making this determination, the 

court should consider how frequently the premises was used by the 

defendant for manufacturing or distributing a controlled 

substance and how frequently the premises was used by the 

defendant for lawful purposes.

Id. Here, the record established that Romans provided the capital to start a 

paint and body shop operated by Jeremy Martin, and that Romans paid the 

shop’s monthly rent. According to witness testimony, Romans’s primary use of 

the body shop was to receive and distribute large quantities of marijuana: 

Romans apparently had no role in the legitimate operations of the shop, and 

at his direction boxes of marijuana were taken to there for delivery to his

customers. The district court’s finding that Romans maintained a premises for 

the purpose of distributing marijuana is therefore plausible in light of the 

record as a whole, and the application of the § 2D1.1(b)(12) enhancement was 

not clearly erroneous. See King, 773 F.3d at 52.

B.

Romans argues that there was insufficient evidence to support an 

enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1). As noted above, the 

Government was required to show by a preponderance of the evidence that “the 

weapon was found in the same location where drugs or drug paraphernalia 

[were] stored or where part of the transaction occurred.” Salado, 339 F.3d at

294. David Tarter, a long-time customer of Romans, testified that he delivered 

drug proceeds to Romans’s residence on several occasions, and that on one of 

those occasions Romans showed him a Glock that he kept in his kitchen and 

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an AR-15 that he kept in his basement. Tarter further testified that, after he 

was pulled over by Indiana State Police with 11 pounds of marijuana in his 

vehicle, he cooperated with the state investigation of Romans and allowed 

himself to be recorded delivering $24,000 in cash to Romans as payment for 

marijuana. Detective Brian Elmore testified that when Indiana police 

searched Romans’s home they found a Glock in a kitchen drawer with a drug 

ledger and the $24,000 in cash, delivered minutes before by Tarter, in the 

living room. Romans argues that Tarter’s testimony contradicts Detective 

Elmore’s, but the two addressed the location of the gun at different times;

Tarter did not specify when he saw the Glock and the AR-15, and he was not 

present when the search was conducted. We conclude that the testimony 

regarding the location of the gun and the ledger and the occurrence of the drug 

transaction was sufficient to establish that “a temporal and spatial relation 

existed between the weapon, the drug trafficking activity, and the defendant,” 

id. at 293-94, and that the district court’s determination that the enhancement 

applied was therefore not clearly erroneous, see King, 773 F.3d at 52. 

C.

Romans argues that there was insufficient evidence to support an 

enhancement pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a), which provides for a four-level 

increase in the defendant’s offense level “if the defendant was an organizer or 

leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was 

otherwise extensive.” The application notes provide:

Factors the court should consider include the exercise of decision 

making authority, the nature of participation in the commission of 

the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a 

larger share of the fruits of the crime, the degree of participation 

in planning or organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the 

illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority exercised 

over others. 

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U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1 n.4. The note also states that “[t]here can, of course, be more 

than one person who qualifies as a leader or organizer of a criminal association 

or conspiracy.” Id.

It is not contested that the conspiracy in this case involved five or more 

participants. As for Romans’s leadership role in the organization, Eric Pieper 

testified that he and Romans were partners and equally split the drug profits. 

He stated that López would call “every single day” asking for money, and that 

he and Romans would take turns “push[ing] [their] people for their money.” 

He stated that if López reported that the payment delivered by Michael Pieper, 

Bajune Moseby, or Kevin Harden was short, he and Romans would make up 

the difference. Pieper also described how, in 2007, he and Romans went to 

Mexico to inspect the marijuana that López was going to send them in Indiana. 

And although Romans contends that there is no evidence that he exercised any

control over the manner in which his “customers” sold marijuana, Jeremy 

Martin testified that Romans directed people to conduct drug transactions at 

his paint shop. Furthermore, when he pleaded guilty to state charges in 2010, 

Romans admitted that after he arranged for the sale of 24 pounds of marijuana 

to Tarter, the confidential informant, he “used Mr. [Brent] Lewellyn to 

transport and deliver the marijuana.” In light of the record as a whole, the 

district court’s finding that Romans was an organizer or leader is plausible. 

The application of the § 3B1.1(a) enhancement was therefore not clearly 

erroneous. See King, 773 F.3d at 52. 

D.

Romans argues that his Guidelines sentence of life imprisonment is 

substantively unreasonable. Romans’s sentence is within the Guidelines 

range, and is therefore presumptively reasonable. To rebut the presumption 

of reasonableness, Romans must show that the court did not account for a 

factor that should have received significant weight, gave significant weight to 

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an improper factor, or that it clearly erred in balancing the sentencing factors. 

United States v. Cooks, 589 F.3d 173, 186 (5th Cir. 2009). 

Romans argues that the district court failed to consider his background, 

lack of criminal history, and the disparity between his sentence and that given 

to Pieper. This argument is unavailing. The district court expressly 

considered Romans’s background and lack of criminal history, along with other 

relevant sentencing factors. Justifying the sentence, the court wrote:

The court finds this to be a reasonable sentence in view of the 

nature and circumstances of the offense entailing the defendant’s 

participation in a large-scale drug trafficking conspiracy involving 

more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, his leadership role in the 

drug trafficking organization, his distribution of multiple kilogram 

quantities of marijuana that was imported from Mexico by the 

organization, his arrangement to take a controlled delivery of 

$24,000 in drug proceeds and to sell 24 pounds of marijuana to a 

confidential source which led to his arrest, the seizure of a firearm 

and a nearby drug ledger during a search of his residence, his 

operation of a stash house on behalf of the organization, his 

criminal history including prior convictions for burglary, criminal 

mischief, driving with a suspended license, possession of 

marijuana, and dealing in marijuana, his failure to comply with 

previous terms of probation, and his history of substance abuse. It 

will serve as just punishment, promote respect for the law, and 

deter future violations of the law.

And although Pieper’s sentence of 145 months is significantly shorter than 

Romans’s, Pieper and Romans are not similarly situated: Pieper pleaded guilty

to conspiracy charges and assisted the prosecution. Because Romans has failed 

to overcome the presumption that his within-guidelines sentence was 

unreasonable, we must reject his challenge. 

E.

Finally, Romans argues that his sentence constitutes cruel and unusual 

punishment and violates the Eighth Amendment. A sentence may violate the 

constitution because it is “inherently barbaric” or because it is 

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“disproportionate to the crime.” Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 59 (2010), as 

modified (July 6, 2010). “The concept of proportionality is central to the Eighth 

Amendment. Embodied in the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual 

punishments is the ‘precept of justice that punishment for crime should be 

graduated and proportioned to [the] offense.’” Id. (quoting Weems v. United 

States, 217 U.S. 349, 367 (1910)). However, Supreme Court precedent 

demonstrates that it is difficult for a defendant to demonstrate a lack of 

proportionality in challenges to the length of term-of-years sentences. See, e.g., 

Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11 (2003) (rejecting a challenge to a sentence of 

25 years to life for the theft of a golf clubs under California’s “three-strikes” 

recidivist sentencing scheme); Harmelin v. Michigan, 501 U.S. 957 (1991) 

(rejecting a challenge to a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole 

for possession of over 650 grams of cocaine). 

In Harmelin, Justice Kennedy’s controlling opinion concluded that the 

Eighth Amendment contains a “narrow proportionality principle,” that “does 

not require strict proportionality between crime and sentence” but rather 

“forbids only extreme sentences that are ‘grossly disproportionate’ to the 

crime.” Id. at 997, 1000-1001 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and concurring 

in judgment). In this case, Romans was found responsible for at least 10,000 

kilograms but less than 30,000 kilograms of marijuana. He was also found to 

have operated a stash house, possessed firearms in connection with his drug 

trafficking, and eventually become an organizer in this conspiracy. In light of 

Supreme Court precedent, we cannot find that his sentence is so grossly 

disproportionate as to violate the Eighth Amendment. See Ewing, 538 U.S. at 

30-31; Harmelin, 501 U.S. at 1005; Hutto v. Davis, 454 U.S. 370, (1982) (per 

curiam) (rejecting a challenge to a sentence of 40 years for possession with 

intent to distribute less than nine ounces of marijuana).

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VII.

In sum, we conclude that venue was proper with respect to the 

convictions of all Appellants. We AFFIRM the convictions of all Appellants 

and AFFIRM the sentences of Appellants Booker, Harden, and Romans. 

Because the application of the § 2D1.1(b)(1) enhancement to Appellant 

Moseby’s sentence was clearly erroneous, we VACATE Moseby’s sentence and 

REMAND for resentencing.

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GREGG COSTA, Circuit Judge, specially concurring:

I fully join the majority opinion, which faithfully applies conspiracy case 

law interpreting the constitutional guarantee that an accused shall be tried

“by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have 

been committed.” U.S. CONST. AMEND. VI. That precedent dates back more 

than a century to the Supreme Court’s decision in Hyde v. United States, 225 

U.S. 347 (1912).1 That case was decided in an age with far more primitive 

interstate travel and far less expansive federal criminal law than today, yet 

Justice Holmes in dissent was able to foresee a case like this one:

Obviously the use of this fiction or form of words must not be 

pushed to such a point in the administration of the national law as 

to transgress the requirement of the Constitution that the trial of 

crimes shall be held in the state and district where the crimes shall 

have been committed. Art. 3, § 2, cl. 3. Amendments, art. 6. With 

the country extending from ocean to ocean, this requirement is 

even more important now than it was a hundred years ago, and 

must be enforced in letter and spirit if we are to make impossible 

hardships amounting to grevious wrongs. In the case of conspiracy 

the danger is conspicuously brought out. Every overt act done in 

aid of it, of course, is attributed to the conspirators; and if that 

means that the conspiracy is present as such wherever any overt 

act is done, it might be at the choice of the government to prosecute 

in any one of twenty states in none of which the conspirators had 

been.

Id. at 386–87. 

 

1 Hyde would not have supported venue in this case because its reasoning that venue 

exists anywhere a conspirator acts was based on an overt act being an element of the general 

federal conspiracy statute it considered. Id. at 356–58. The drug conspiracy statute (21 

U.S.C. § 846) does not require an overt act. See United States v. Shabani, 513 U.S. 10, 17

(1994). But in the years following Hyde, the Supreme Court extended its venue holding to 

conspiracy statutes like the current drug one that do not require an overt act. See Whitfield 

v. United States, 543 U.S. 209, 218 (2005) (“[T]his Court has long held that venue is proper 

in any district in which an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy was committed, even 

where an overt act is not a required element of the conspiracy offense.” (citing United States 

v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 U.S. 150 (1940); United States v. Trenton Potteries Co., 273 

U.S. 392, 402–04 (1927))). 

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Although not reaching the twenty states of Holmes’s prediction, Zigler’s

and Michael Piper’s drives from Indianapolis to the Dallas-Fort Worth 

metropolex created venue in this drug conspiracy case in seven districts other 

than the one where the drugs were being sold.2 Prosecuting the case in one of 

those “just passing through” districts, one located close to a thousand miles 

away from where the drugs were sold, illustrates the concerns about the 

vitality of the vicinage right that Holmes identified. That right does not receive

much attention these days, but was important enough to the Founders that 

it—rather than the right to confront witnesses, or the right against selfincrimination, or even the right to due process—along with the related right to 

trial by jury are the only rules of criminal procedure included in both the 

original Constitution and Bill of Rights. See generally United States v. 

Cabrales, 524 U.S. 1, 6 (1998) (“Proper venue in criminal proceedings was a 

matter of concern to the Nation’s founders.”); Steven A. Engel, The Public’s 

Vicinage Right: A Constitutional Argument, 75 N.Y.U. L. REV. 1658, 1680–91 

(2000) (chronicling the history of the vicinage right). The “structural” Article 

III Venue Clause and the Sixth Amendment that is framed in terms of a 

defendant’s right serve both “the community’s interest in law enforcement as 

well as the defendant’s right to a fair trial.” Engel at 1681. 

It undermines both of these concerns to try members of a large-scale 

Indianapolis drug ring, with life sentences on the line, in Sherman, Texas

(population 39,943). The great leeway Hyde gives federal agents to shop cases 

to the United States Attorney’s Office with the lowest thresholds for 

prosecuting cases implicates the Founder’s “fear that in the absence of the 

 

2 Assuming the most direct route using interstate highways, venue was created in the 

following in order of the route: the Central and Southern Districts of Illinois; the Eastern 

District of Missouri; the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas; and the Eastern and 

Northern Districts of Texas. 

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vicinage right, the government might select the community that would be most 

prone to convict the defendant.”3 Id. at 1695; see also id. at 1695 n.195 (citing 

Patrick Henry’s concern at the Virginia Ratifying Convention that without 

adding a locality requirement to the Article III Venue Clause’s state 

requirement, the government might transport a defendant “from one extremity 

of the state to another”). And jurors from Indianapolis, not east Texas, should 

be deciding a case involving tens of millions of dollars in drug transactions in 

their community. See Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 530 (1975) 

(“Community participation in the administration of the criminal law, 

moreover, is not only consistent with our democratic heritage but is also critical 

to public confidence in the fairness of the criminal justice system.”); Akhil Reed 

Amar, THE BILL OF RIGHTS 88–89 (1998) (explaining that the vicinage right 

sought to ensure that “the jury would be composed of citizens from the same 

community, and its actions were expected to be informed by community 

values”); cf. William J. Stuntz, THE COLLAPSE OF AMERICAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE 

141–42 (2011) (identifying decreased local involvement in law enforcement, 

including less localized jury selection, as a failing of the modern criminal 

justice system). 

Despite the prescience of Justice Holmes’s dissent, the Hyde rule is 

longstanding and there have been no indications it will be reconsidered.

Judges’ decisions are not, however, the only source for expressing important

principles of our criminal justice system. Prosecutorial discretion also plays a 

part as demonstrated by another area of law in which the courts have read a 

constitutional right narrowly. Although the Supreme Court has interpreted 

 

3 Given the countless crimes that could be charged at the federal level, U.S. Attorney’s 

Offices typically have thresholds that guide their determination of whether there is a 

sufficient federal interest to warrant federal prosecution. The thresholds might involve drug 

quantity for drug cases, loss amount for fraud cases, number of images in child pornography 

cases, etc. The thresholds can vary significantly among different districts.

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the Double Jeopardy Clause to allow different sovereigns to prosecute the same 

conduct,4 the Department of Justice’s Petite Policy substantially constrains 

federal prosecutors’ ability to do so. See UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S MANUAL 

§ 9-2.031 (requiring approval from an Assistant Attorney General to pursue a 

federal prosecution after a prior state prosecution for the same conduct and 

listing various factors that should be considered in determining whether the 

presumption against such prosecutions has been overcome). Something 

similar would help ensure that conspiracy cases are being prosecuted in 

communities that have a meaningful connection to the case.

 

4 As is the case for many rules of criminal procedure, Prohibition gave rise to one of 

the early cases announcing the “dual sovereign” doctrine that allows both federal and state 

prosecutions for the same conduct. See United States v. Lanza, 260 U.S. 377, 382 (1922) 

(allowing a federal prosecution for the sale of liquor after a conviction for the same in 

Washington state). That same year, the doctrine also allowed Massachusetts authorities to 

try the original Ponzi schemer after the feds had already obtained a conviction. See Ponzi v. 

Fessenden, 258 U.S. 254, 261 (1922). The doctrine is much criticized. See Bartkus v. Illinois, 

359 U.S. 121, 150 (1959) (Black, J., dissenting); David Bryan Owsley, Note, Accepting the 

Dual Sovereignty Exception to Double Jeopardy: A Hard Case Study, 81 WASH. U. L.Q. 765, 

767 n.8 (2003) (listing numerous examples of the “almost uniform[]” criticism from 

academics).

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