Source: https://openjurist.org/144/f3d/1085/united-states-v-a-marin
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 23:44:19
Document Index: 299947533

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 3553', '§ 5', '§ 3553', '§ 5', '§ 3553', '§ 3553', '§ 3553']

144 F3d 1085 United States v. A Marin | OpenJurist
144 F. 3d 1085 - United States v. A Marin
144 F3d 1085 United States v. A Marin
144 F.3d 1085
Jose A. MARIN, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 97-2545.
Thomas P. Schneider, Michelle A. Leslie (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Milwaukee, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Catherine M. Canright (argued), Milwaukee, WI, for Defendant-Appellee.
Marin and co-defendant Bernardino Olmos were charged with violations of the federal narcotics laws. John Bowers, whom police arrested for cocaine trafficking, identified his source of cocaine as Marin and agreed to cooperate with the police. During August and the beginning of September 1996, under law enforcement supervision, Bowers tape-recorded various conversations with Marin and Olmos which culminated in Marin agreeing to sell two kilograms of cocaine to Bowers. On September 12, 1996, Bowers met with Marin and Olmos at Tosca Flowers, a flower shop owned by Marin, and they then went to Olmos' Milwaukee residence to conduct the transaction. Bowers left the residence with two kilograms of cocaine, having agreed to make partial payment by September 15.
E. March 6, 1997 Continuation of Sentencing Hearing-Jury Room Debriefing
After the witnesses were examined, the district court determined that the safety valve provision of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f) and U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2 applied. The court stated thatI do believe there remains some shortcomings in the lack of full and complete detail as to some of the historical events that Mr. Marin, as well as Mr. Bowers and Olmos, testified about, but I don't find [ ] the lacking in detail to be sufficiently strong such as to avoid--or avoid Mr. Marin having an opportunity to be sentenced in recognition of the operation of the safety valve provision.
When Congress passed the Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Reform Act (MMSRA) in 1994, "it included a 'safety valve' provision that created more flexibility in sentencing by permitting defendants to be sentenced below the minimum sentences fixed by statute." United States v. Ramirez, 94 F.3d 1095, 1099 (7th Cir.1996); see 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f). An analogous provision was also added to the sentencing guidelines. See U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2.
Prior to the adoption of the MMSRA, a defendant was entitled to relief from the statutory minimum sentence only if the government made a motion for downward departure based on the defendant's substantial assistance. United States v. Arrington, 73 F.3d 144, 147 (7th Cir.1996); see 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e). However, the government generally uses substantial assistance motions only to reward defendants who provide the government with new or useful information. Id. Thus, higher-level defendants, whose greater involvement in criminal activity resulted in their having more information, often fared better under the old system. Id. Lower-level dealers ("mules") or defendants whose coconspirators had already talked to the government often received longer sentences than these higher-level defendants because even if they told the authorities everything that they knew, they often had no new or useful information to trade and thus would not be entitled to substantial assistance departures. Id. at 147-148.
Congress passed the MMSRA in order to remedy this sentencing inequity. Id. at 147. As the legislative history notes: "Ironically, [ ] for the very offenders who most warrant proportionally lower sentences--offenders that by guideline definitions are the least culpable--mandatory minimums generally operate to block the sentence from reflecting mitigating factors." See Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Reform Act of 1994, H.R.Rep. No. 103-460, 103rd Cong., 2d Sess. (1994). Section 3553(f) provides that the statutory minimum shall not apply to first-time, non-violent drug offenders who played a minor role in the offense and have made a good faith effort to cooperate with the government. Arrington, 73 F.3d at 147-148. The provision thus allows less knowledgeable and less culpable defendants who have fully assisted the government by providing all of the information they have to avoid the application of the statutory mandatory minimum sentences. Ramirez, 94 F.3d at 1099. As this Court has noted,
In this case, during the sentencing hearing the court gave Marin the opportunity to write a letter to be read to the court detailing his and others involvement in the cocaine trafficking that was the subject of his conviction. The court relied on this letter, which revealed that Marin had been untruthful in his prior disclosure during the sentencing hearing, in determining that he qualified for the safety valve. However, by allowing this letter to serve as the basis for a downward departure, the district court ignored the plain language of the safety valve provision which requires that disclosures be made "to the Government," not to the sentencing court. See United States v. Montanez, 82 F.3d 520, 523 (1st Cir.1996) ("[i]t is up to the defendant to persuade the district court that he has 'truthfully provided' the required information and evidence to the government") (emphasis added).
The Eighth Circuit's decision in United States v. Long, 77 F.3d 1060 (1996), certiorari denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 161, 136 L.Ed.2d 104, supports this reading of the statute. In Long, the court denied safety valve relief to a defendant who lied to the government during a presentencing interview but rectified her statement during the sentencing hearing. Id. at 1062. Defendant Long, an airline employee, was arrested along with Williams at an airport for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base. Williams carried a health insurance card bearing the name of Long's husband. After Long eventually pled guilty, the government interviewed her about the offense to enable her to qualify for the safety valve. When asked why Williams was carrying her husband's identification, Long told the government that he had asked her to obtain employee nonrevenue airline tickets for him, which are available for family members of airline employees, but that she had never done so. The government subsequently obtained several non-revenue tickets purchased by Long for travel by "Eddie Long" and offered them at the sentencing hearing. On cross-examination, Long admitted that she had provided Williams with non-revenue tickets at least four times and had lied about this fact at the government interview, fearing retribution by the airline. Because of this misstatement to the government, the district court concluded that Long did not qualify for relief under the safety valve. Id. The Eighth Circuit affirmed. Id.
[a]lthough this would serve a sentencing court's interest in full disclosure for purposes of sentencing, we think Long overlooks the government's interest in full truthful disclosure when it interviews defendants. This interest is reflected in the text of § 3553(f)(5) in the clause requiring the defendant's information be "truthfully provided to the Government." Only if Long had provided truthful information could the government have avoided the further investigation required to discover the airline ticket receipts which showed Long had provided Williams with nonrevenue tickets.
Id.; see also United States v. Fletcher, 74 F.3d 49, 56 (4th Cir.1996), certiorari denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 157, 136 L.Ed.2d 101 (holding that defendant had not truthfully provided to the government all information and evidence he had concerning the offense and others related to it when defendant perjured himself at trial despite "coming clean" at sentencing hearing).
As this Court has emphasized, " § 3553(f) was intended to benefit only those defendants who truly cooperate." Arrington, 73 F.3d at 148; see also United States v. Thompson, 106 F.3d 794, 800 (7th Cir.1997). The district court's interpretation of the safety valve contradicts the purpose of the statute in that it allows a defendant, who has no genuine interest in cooperating fully with the government, to avail himself of the safety valve. As the Supreme Court has stressed, "We need not leave our common sense at the doorstep when we interpret a statute." Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228, 109 S.Ct. 1775, 104 L.Ed.2d 268; see United States v. Wrenn, 66 F.3d 1, 2 (1st Cir.1995). Under the district court's formulation, a defendant may lie to the government and still qualify for safety valve relief merely by altering his story at sentencing in order to comport with the evidence presented by the government during the hearing, resulting in a defendant being able to qualify for relief while avoiding full disclosure to the government. Such an interpretation ignores Congress' intention to reward only those low-level defendants who "truly cooperate" and eliminates the incentive for defendants to be truthful when interviewed by the government.
This case does not involve a defendant who misled the government and cured his misstatements before the commencement of the sentencing hearing. Nor does it involve a defendant who never misled the government prior to the sentencing hearing and provided a complete disclosure at the sentencing hearing. This case involves a defendant who lied to the government prior to sentencing, continued to lie during the sentencing hearing, and only provided a truthful version during the middle of the sentencing hearing when the government confronted him with evidence exposing his untruthfulness
The district court seemed to have recognized as much, commenting that "for some reason until the government hammers you over the head with facts, you are unwilling to talk about anything and unfortunately that's not the way to proceed."
In addition to the changes in Marin's story which occurred during the sentencing hearing, he also appears to have lied to the court about certain issues without ever coming clean. For example, Marin claimed that he never kept cocaine at his flower shop. However, co-conspirator Olmos testified that Marin had cocaine at the flower shop on several occasions, Bowers testified that he obtained cocaine at the flower shop, agents found a scale in the basement of the shop, and a narcotics dog "alerted" at several spots in the basement of the shop. Marin also claimed that he had been dealing with confidential informant Bowers for one to one-and-a-half years prior to the date of the presentencing interview with the government, while Bowers claimed that he had been receiving cocaine from Marin for 12 years. Because we resolve this case on the timing issue and conclude that the district court erred in granting Marin repeated opportunities throughout the sentencing hearing to change his story after providing an untruthful version prior to sentencing, we do not need to analyze whether Marin, in fact, lied to the government regarding certain issues without ever coming clean and thus whether the district court committed clear error in finding that Marin had been sufficiently truthful and had made a good faith effort to cooperate