Opinion ID: 6938600
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Cross-Appeal — Exclusion of Uncharged Quantities from Base Offense Level

Text: The government contends in its cross-appeal that the court erred by failing to include the quantities of cocaine to which Dennis and Marcel had been linked before August 6 as relevant conduct for purposes of sentencing. Although the presentence report has not been provided to this court, the sentencing hearing transcript shows that the report recommended a base level of 32 points based on 6.5 kilos of cocaine. This amount included the two and one-half kilos seized from Dennis in Texas in the January 1993 traffic stop and the two kilos involved in the failed reverse sting operation at the Wichita Suites Hotel in April 1993, all of which the court excluded, thereby reducing the base level to 28 points. The court found the report “reasonably accurate” but made no specific findings on those prior incidents because it reasoned that defendants could not be sentenced for acts for which they were not charged and of which they had not been found guilty. We first reject Dennis’ argument that inclusion of the cocaine from the January 1993 Texas traffic stop violated the double jeopardy clause because he is being prosecuted in Texas for possession of that cocaine. Use of evidence of related criminal conduct to enhance a defendant’s sentence for a separate crime does not constitute punishment for that conduct within the meaning of the double jeopardy clause. Witte v. United States, — U.S.-,- -, 115 S.Ct. 2199, 2204-07, 132 L.Ed.2d 351 (1995). The district court erred in ruling that defendants’ sentences could not be based on acts of which they were not convicted. Application Note 12 to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 provides: “Types and quantities of drugs not specified in the count of conviction may be considered in determining the offense level. See § 1131.3(a)(2).” Under U.S.S.G. § lB1.3(a)(2), uncharged drug quantities must be considered if they were part of the same course of conduct or common scheme or plan as the offense of conviction. Application Note 3 to § IB 1.3 states that under subsection (a)(2), conduct of which the defendant has not been convicted is included if it was part of the same course of conduct or common scheme or plan as the offense of conviction. The guidelines therefore direct the sentencing court to include amounts of drugs for which the defendant has not been charged or convicted if they are part of the same course of conduct or common scheme of plan as the offense of conviction. See Deninno, 29 F.3d at 578. Offenses are part of a common scheme or plan if they are “substantially connected to each other by at least one common factor, such as common victims, common accomplices, common purpose, or similar modus operandi” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, Application Note 9(A). The record could support the inference that Dennis’ transporting drugs in Texas in January 1993 had the same purpose as the charged conspiracy, to obtain two kilos of cocaine powder for distribution in Wichita. However, there were no common accomplices, and the methods were different; in the January 1993 Texas traffic stop incident, Dennis personally transported the cocaine from the source, while in the charged conspiracy, none of the defendants personally transported the cocaine. The unsuccessful April 1993 Wichita Suites Hotel transaction had the same purpose and method as the charged conspiracy. In addition, offenses that are' not sufficiently related to be part of a common scheme or plan are part of the same course of conduct if they are “sufficiently connected or related to each other as to warrant the conclusion that they are paid of a single episode, spree, or ongoing series of offenses.” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, Application Note 9(B). Relevant factors include “the degree of similarity of the offenses, the regularity (repetitions) of the offenses, and the time interval between the offenses.” Id. The acts need not be connected by common participants or a common scheme. The inquiry is whether the defendant repeated same type of criminal activity over time, or engaged in an identifiable behavior pattern of specific criminal activity. See Richards, 27 F.3d at 468. The record could support findings that the offense of conviction and the January 1993 and April 1993 incidents were part of the same course of conduct; there was evidence that all involved the purchase or transportation of approximately two kilos of cocaine for distribution in Wichita, and the incidents occurred three or four months apart. See Roederer, 11 F.3d at 979. However, the district court made no specific findings on these issues. Accordingly, we must remand the case for further findings of fact. Marcel argues there was insufficient evidence tying him to the January 1993 and April 1993 incidents. Evidence connecting a defendant to additional drug quantities must have sufficient minimum indicia of reliability. See Richards, 27 F.3d at 468. Marcel’s own statements could meet that requirement, and could support a finding that he was involved in the two earlier incidents. His statements in the undercover officer’s motel room that “we” had a cocaine source in Houston and had lost four kilos suggests he was involved in both incidents, in which police intercepted a total of approximately four kilos of cocaine intended for distribution in Wichita by Dennis. Marcel’s offer to give the police a major source of cocaine in Houston after his arrest also suggests some involvement in the Texas incident. His testimony that he heard the police talking in the background over the phone during the April 1993 reverse sting operation at the Wichita suites Hotel, and the evidence that he asked the informant in the April incident why he was trying to set Dennis up tend to show Marcel’s involvement in the April 1993 incident. However, the district court made no findings on Marcel's involvement in the two prior incidents. We must also remand for further findings on this issue. We reject the government’s contention that another two kilograms of cocaine must be included for sentencing purposes. The government argues the district court should have converted the $40,000 seized from Dennis at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to its equivalent of two kilograms of cocaine. It is true that cash attributable to drug transactions that are part of the same course of conduct, common scheme, or plan as the offense of conviction can be converted to its equivalent in drugs for sentencing. See Rios, 22 F.3d at 1027-28. However, the government did not object to the omission of these additional two kilos from the presentence report until sentencing, contrary to Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(b)(6)(B). The reason offered by the government for its not raising the question earlier was that the evidence had come in at trial and was no surprise to defendants. The court noted the objection and made no finding of good cause permitting the government to raise a new objection at sentencing. The court was not required to hear the government’s new objection to the presentence report at sentencing. See United States v. Lopez-Cavasos, 915 F.2d 474, 476-79 (9th Cir.1990) (applying local rule requiring objections to presentence report to be made before sentencing.)