UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

No. 96-4438

DONALD WADE SAWYERS, a/k/a

Buckwheat,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Winston-Salem.

William L. Osteen, Sr., District Judge.

(CR-95-270)

Submitted: December 19, 1996

Decided: January 10, 1997

Before ERVIN and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and BUTZNER,

Senior Circuit Judge.

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Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

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COUNSEL

Danny T. Ferguson, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellant.

Walter C. Holton, Jr., United States Attorney, Clifton T. Barrett,

Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North Carolina, for

Appellee.

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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See

Local Rule 36(c).

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OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Donald Wade Sawyers was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to

possess crack cocaine with intent to distribute, 21 U.S.C. § 846

(1994). He appeals his conviction on the ground of insufficient evidence. Sawyers also appeals his 235-month sentence, contending that

the district court clearly erred in determining the amount of crack for

which he was responsible, USSG § 2D1.1,1 and in enhancing his sentence for obstruction of justice on a finding that he perjured himself

at trial, USSG § 3C1.1. We affirm the conviction and sentence.

Between 1989 and the fall of 1995, Timothy Ray Smith and his

associates made regular trips from Mt. Airy, North Carolina, to New

York to buy cocaine powder. The cocaine was cooked into crack in

Mt. Airy and distributed. Numerous witnesses who were involved in

the conspiracy testified at Sawyers' trial. Several had seen Sawyers

receive one-ounce quantities of crack from Smith or pay Smith for

ounces Sawyers had previously received. Others bought crack or

cocaine powder from Sawyers. A state undercover officer testified

that he bought 1.2 grams of crack and .7 grams of cocaine powder

from Sawyers in 1992; Sawyers was convicted of this offense in state

court and received a suspended sentence.

When federal agents arrested Sawyers in November 1995, the

agents found about $21,000 in cash in a Chevrolet parked behind his

house. Sawyers consented to the search and provided the key to the

car. At trial, the defendant's brother, Jerry Sawyers, testified that the

money was a pension plan disbursement he had received from his

employer. He said he owned the Chevrolet and hid the money in the

car to keep it from his estranged wife. He said he had not obtained

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1 United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual (Nov.

1995).

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a title for the car and had not told the defendant the money was in the

car. Sawyers testified in his own behalf that he had used drugs but had

never sold drugs. He denied selling crack and cocaine to the undercover agent in 1992 and said he entered a guilty plea to that charge

on his lawyer's advice. He said a friend had asked him to sell the

Chevrolet for her and that he did not know his brother had bought the

car or that $21,000 was in it.

A conviction must be sustained if there is substantial evidence to

support the verdict when the evidence is viewed in the light most

favorable to the government. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60,

80 (1942). This case turned primarily on the jury's assessment of the

credibility of the witnesses, a determination which is not reviewable

on appeal. United States v. Saunders, 886 F.2d 56, 60 (4th Cir. 1989).

Sawyers asserts that the government's witnesses were not credible

because all but two of them were hopeful of receiving a sentence

reduction for substantial assistance and that, if the testimony of those

witnesses is discounted, insufficient evidence remains for a conviction. We disagree. Defense counsel explored thoroughly in the presence of the jury the possible benefit to each witness of his or her

testimony against Sawyers. Two of the witnesses could not be discredited on this ground. Ramona Speaks and James Gwynn testified

that they bought crack and cocaine powder from Sawyers; Speaks had

not been charged, and Gwynn was not in a position to receive a sentence reduction. Moreover, the testimony of the government's witnesses was corroborated by that of the undercover officer. A

reasonable factfinder could conclude that the government's witnesses

were more credible than the defense witnesses and that Sawyers participated in the conspiracy.

Sawyers next argues that the district court clearly erred in converting the $21,000 seized from the car to its crack equivalent for sentencing purposes. He attempts to distinguish United States v. Hicks,

948 F.2d 877, 883 (4th Cir. 1991), which approved a similar conversion of money into its drug equivalent when the amount of drugs

seized did not reflect the scale of the defendant's involvement. In that

case, the defendant admitted that most of the money seized from his

home was drug proceeds. Although Sawyers made no such admission,

the district court found by a preponderance of the evidence that the

money belonged to Sawyers and was drug-related, and the finding is

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supported by the evidence produced at trial that Sawyers had engaged

in drug trafficking for several years.2 See United States v. GonzalezSanchez, 953 F.2d 1184, 1187 (9th Cir. 1992) (conversion of money

to drug equivalent only improper without finding of link to drug

transaction).

Finally, Sawyers challenges the district court's finding that he gave

perjured testimony when he denied selling drugs to the undercover

officer, Ramona Speaks, or James Gwynn. He contends that the finding was inadequate under United States v. Dunnigan, 507 U.S. 87

(1992). Before making an adjustment for obstruction of justice based

on the defendant's perjury at trial, the district court must make a finding which either addresses each element of perjury or encompasses a

finding that the defendant willfully gave false testimony on a material

matter. Id. at 95. The district court here found that Sawyers was

untruthful in denying that he sold drugs to Speaks, James Gwynn, and

the undercover officer. Sawyers could not have been confused or mistaken about the matter, and it was material to the question of his guilt.

Consequently, the district court's finding was adequate under

Dunnigan and was not clearly erroneous.

The conviction and sentence are therefore affirmed. We dispense

with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument

would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

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2 Sawyers' brother again testified at the sentencing hearing that the

money was his. However, he was unable to remember where he had

cashed or deposited the check from his employer initially and could not

explain why most of the money was in two containers each holding about

$10,000 or why he had failed to pay child support despite a court order

to do so.

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