United States Court of Appeals

For the Eighth Circuit

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No. 23-1093

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United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Anthony Howard Amundson

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant

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Appeal from United States District Court 

for the Northern District of Iowa - Eastern

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 Submitted: September 19, 2023

Filed: October 6, 2023

[Unpublished]

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Before SMITH, Chief Judge, ARNOLD and ERICKSON, Circuit Judges. 

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PER CURIAM.

Anthony Amundson pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute 500 grams or

more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine

and 50 grams of actual (pure) methamphetamine. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A), 846.
The district court1

 calculated his recommended sentencing range under the

Sentencing Guidelines as 360 months to life in prison, and the court sentenced him

to 348 months. Amundson maintains that the court clearly erred in estimating the

amount of drugs Amundson was responsible for and so miscalculated the Guidelines

range. We affirm.

The Guidelines provide that a defendant who stands convicted of the offense

Amundson committed will receive a base offense level of 36 if he is found

responsible for between 15–45 kilograms of a mixture containing methamphetamine.

See USSG § 2D1.1(c)(2). But if the defendant is found responsible for only 5–15

kilograms of a methamphetamine mixture, then his base offense level is 34. See id.

§ 2D1.1(c)(3).

Amundson's presentence report recommended that the court find him

responsible for 25.89 kilograms, which would place him in the higher of the two

categories mentioned. To reach that precise figure, the PSR recounted controlled buys

and statements from co-conspirators regarding the quantity of drugs Amundson

transacted. The government, meanwhile, advocated for a slightly different precise

figure of 32.07 kilograms, also in the higher category. Amundson disagreed with the

calculations.

At sentencing the government called Amundson's ex-girlfriend to testify about

the amount of drugs she and Amundson sold. The district court found her testimony

credible, and based on her testimony, it believed Amundson was responsible for at

least 15 kilograms of a methamphetamine mixture, which is enough to put him in the

higher category.

1The Honorable C.J. Williams, United States District Judge for the Northern

District of Iowa.

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"We review a district court's drug-quantity finding for clear error and reverse

only when the entire record definitely and firmly illustrates that the lower court made

a mistake." United States v. McArthur, 11 F.4th 655, 659 (8th Cir. 2021) (per curiam).

Courts must often "determine drug quantity using imprecise evidence," but we will

uphold their findings "so long as the record reflects a basis for the court's decision."

See United States v. Walker, 688 F.3d 416, 423 (8th Cir. 2012).

Amundson maintains that the district court clearly erred when it placed him in

the higher of the two categories by finding him responsible for at least 15 kilograms

of a methamphetamine mixture. He contends that he belongs in the lower category,

as the evidence showed him responsible for only 5–15 kilograms. He points out that

the indictment charged that the conspiracy ran for about a year and a half, and except

for a nearly four-month stint around the third quarter of that period, he was in state

custody. He says that he should not be held responsible for drugs sold while he was

incarcerated or by others, namely his ex-girlfriend, who sold them "outside the scope

of his involvement."

Even if we disregarded the quantities allegedly attributable to Amundson sold

while he was in state custody, his ex-girlfriend's credible testimony supports the

district court's finding. She testified that, throughout Amundson's brief stint out of

custody, the pair was receiving two kilograms a couple times a week to distribute.

Given that Amundson was out of jail for almost four months, it was not clear error to

conclude that he was responsible for at least fifteen kilograms during this time alone,

as that's probably about what he helped distribute in just a single month. "It is

well-established that the testimony of co-conspirators may be sufficiently reliable

evidence upon which the court may base its drug quantity calculation for sentencing

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purposes." See United States v. Plancarte-Vazquez, 450 F.3d 848, 852 (8th Cir.

2006). We are certainly not left with a definite and firm conviction that the district

court made a mistake. See McArthur, 11 F.4th at 659.

Affirmed.

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