FI L ED
U.S. COURT OF APPEAL S

EL EVENTH CI RCUI T
J UNE 11, 2010

J OHN L EY
CL ERK [ D O N O T P U B L I S H ]

I N T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S C O U R T O F A P P E A L S

F O R T H E E L E V E N T H C I R C U I T

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

N o

. 0 9

- 1 6 3 9 7

N o n

- A r g u m e n t C a l e n d a r

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

D

. C

. D o c k e t N o

. 0 8

- 0 0 3 1 5

- C R

- 1 8

- 4

U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A

,

P l a i n t i f f

- A p p e l l e e ,

v e r s u s

R A S H A U D J O H N S O N

,

a

. k

. a

. R o c k y ,

D e f e n d a n t

- A p p e l l a n t

.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A p p e a l f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t
f o r t h e S o u t h e r n D i s t r i c t o f G e o r g i a

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

( J u n e 1 1

, 2 0 1 0 )

B e f o r e B L A C K

, H U L L a n d P R Y O R

, C i r c u i t J u d g e s

.

P E R C U R I A M :

A f t e r p l e a d i n g g u i l t y , R a s h a u d J o h n s o n a p p e a l s h i s 1 4 2

- m o n t h s e n t e n c e f o rc o n s p i r i n g t o p o s s e s s w i t h i n t e n t t o d i s t r i b u t e c o c a i n e , i n v i o l a t i o n o f 2 1 U

. S

. C

.

§ § 8 4 1 ( a ) a n d 8 4 6

. J o h n s o n a r g u e s t h a t t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t c l e a r l y e r r e d i n d e n y i n g

h i s r e q u e s t f

o r a t w o

- l e v e l m i n o r r o l e r e d u c t i o n , p u r s u a n t t o U

. S

. S

. G

. § 3 B 1

. 2 ( b )

.

A f t e r r e v i e w , w e a f

f i r m

. 1

A d e f e n d a n t m a y r e c e i v e a t w o

- l e v e l r e d u c t i o n i n h i s o f f e n s e l e v e l i f h e w a s

a m i n o r p a r t i c i p a n t i n t h e c r i m i n a l a c t i v i t y

. U

. S

. S

. G

. § 3 B 1

. 2 ( b )

. A d e f e n d a n t i s a

m i n o r p a r t i c i p a n t i f h e i s l e s s c u l p a b l e t h a n m o s t o t h e r p a r t i c i p a n t s , b u t h i s r o l e

c o u l d n o t b e d e s c r i b e d a s m i n i m a l

. U

. S

. S

. G

. § 3 B 1

. 2 c m t

. n

. 5

. T h e d e f e n d a n t h a s

t h e b u r d e n o f e s t a b l i s h i n g h i s r o l e i n t h e o f f e n s e b y a p r e p o n d e r a n c e o f t h e

e v i d e n c e

. U n i t e d S t a t e s v

. D e V a r o n , 1 7 5 F

. 3 d 9 3 0

, 9 3 9 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 1 9 9 9 ) ( e n b a n c )

.

T h e d e t e r m i n a t i o n o f w h e t h e r t o a p p l y a m i n o r r o l e r e d u c t i o n “ i s h e a v i l y

d e p e n d e n t u p o n t h e f

a c t s o f t h e p a r t i c u l a r c a s e

. ” U

. S

. S

. G

. § 3 B 1

. 2 c m t

. n

. 3 ( c )

.

“ T w o p r i n c i p l e s g u i d e t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t ’ s c o n s i d e r a t i o n : ( 1 ) t h e c o u r t m u s t

c o m p a r e t h e d e f

e n d a n t ’ s r o l e i n t h e o f

f e n s e w i t h t h e r e l e v a n t c o n d u c t a t t r i b u t e d t o

h i m i n c a l c u l a t i n g h i s b a s e o f f e n s e l e v e l ; a n d ( 2 ) t h e c o u r t m a y c o m p a r e t h e

d e f e n d a n t ’ s c o n d u c t t o t h a t o f o t h e r p a r t i c i p a n t s i n v o l v e d i n t h e o f f e n s e

. ” U n i t e d

S t a t e s v

. A l v a r e z

- C o r i a , 4 4 7 F

. 3 d 1 3 4 0

, 1 3 4 3 ( 1 1 t h C i r

. 2 0 0 6 )

. W h e n t h e r e l e v a n t

c o n d u c t a t t r i b u t e d t o d e f e n d a n t i s t h e s a m e a s h i s a c t u a l c o n d u c t

, “ h e c a n n o t p r o v e

We review for c lear

err or a district c ourt’s dete rmination as to a def endant’ s role in the 1

offe nse. United States v. De Var on, 175 F.3d 930, 937 ( 11th Cir. 1999) (en ba nc).

2t h a t h e i s e n t i t l e d t o a m i n o r

- r o l e a d j u s t m e n t s i m p l y b y p o i n t i n g t o s o m e b r o a d e r

s c h e m e f o r w h i c h h e w a s n o t h e l d a c c o u n t a b l e

. ” I d

. ; s e e a l s o D e V a r o n , 1 7 5 F

. 3 d

a t 9 4 2

- 4 3 ( c o n c l u d i n g t h a t “ w h e n a d r u g c o u r i e r ’ s r e l e v a n t c o n d u c t i s l i m i t e d t o

[ h i s ] o w n a c t o f i m p o r t a t i o n , a d i s t r i c t c o u r t m a y l e g i t i m a t e l y c o n c l u d e t h a t t h e

c o u r i e r p l a y e d a n i m p o r t a n t o r e s s e n t i a l r o l e i n t h e i m p o r t a t i o n o f t h o s e d r u g s ” )

.

A s t o t h e s e c o n d p r o n g , t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t i s p e r m i t t e d t o “ m e a s u r e t h e

d e f e n d a n t ’ s c o n d u c t a g a i n s t t h a t o f o t h e r p a r t i c i p a n t s ” b u t o n l y “ w h e r e t h e r e c o r d

e v i d e n c e i s s u f

f i c i e n t

. ” D e V a r o n , F

. 3 d a t 9 3 4

. F u r t h e r m o r e , “ [ t ] h e f a c t t h a t a

d e f e n d a n t ’ s r o l e m a y b e l e s s t h a n t h a t o f o t h e r p a r t i c i p a n t s e n g a g e d i n t h e r e l e v a n t

c o n d u c t m a y n o t b e d i s p o s i t i v e o f r o l e i n t h e o f f e n s e , s i n c e i t i s p o s s i b l e t h a t n o n e

a r e m i n o r o r m i n i m a l p a r t i c i p a n t s

. ” I d

. a t 9 4 4

.

H e r e , t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t d i d n o t c l e a r l y e r r i n d e n y i n g J o h n s o n ’ s r e q u e s t f o r a

m i n o r r o l e r e d u c t i o n

. J o h n s o n ’ s r e l e v a n t c o n d u c t m a t c h e d h i s a c t u a l c o n d u c t ; t h a t

i s , h e w a s h e l d a c c o u n t a b l e f o r o n l y t h e a m o u n t o f c o c a i n e h e u n d i s p u t e d l y

p u r c h a s e d o r a t t e m p t e d t o p u r c h a s e f r o m T e l l y P e t t y

. T h u s , J o h n s o n ’ s a r g u m e n t 2

t h a t h e p l a y e d n o r o l e i n P e t t y ’ s l a r g e r d r u g t r a f f i c k i n g o p e r a t i o n i s u n a v a i l i n g

.

J o h n s o n p l a y e d a n i m p o r t a n t r o l e i n h i s o w n c o n s p i r a c y w i t h P e t t y t o p u r c h a s e

Acc ording to J ohnson’s prese ntence investiga tion report, to which Johnson did not 2 object, Johnson purchased six ounces from Petty on fiftee n separ ate oc casions and attempted to purcha se 18 ounce s (or a

half-kilog ram) on A

ug ust 29, 2008, for a total of 108 ounc es, or 3.06 kilogr ams of coc aine. This wa s the amount used to ca lculate Johnson’s base off ense le vel.

3c o c a i n e

. 3

A F F I R M E D

.

The c onclusion statement in J ohnson’s brief states that he se eks the “ protec tion . . . of 3 Section 3553(a) ’s mandate to impose a sentenc e ‘suf ficient, but not g rea ter than ne cessa ry ’” a nd
contends that the “ sentenc ing judg e did not or could not indepe ndently evalua te whethe r the

sentenc e complies with 18 [U.S.C .] § 3553(a) . . . .” To the extent J ohnson is arg uing tha t his

sentenc e is proce durally

unrea sonable be cause the district court e rre d in refusing to awar d him
the minor role r eduction, that ar g ument is without m erit for the re asons discussed. To the e x tent
J ohnson attempts to arg ue that his sentenc e is unrea sonable for other re asons, he ha s waived this
issue. See Gr eenbr iar, L td. v. Alabaster , 881 F.2d 1570, 1573 n.6 ( 11th Cir. 1989) (dec lining to
consider issue ide ntified in brief’ s statement of the c ase, but not ela borate d upon in arg ument on the merits).

4