Opinion ID: 556611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Anthony Jacobs' Sentence.

Text: 42 Defendant-appellant Anthony Jacobs, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and distributing cocaine, challenges the sentence imposed on him by the district court. He contends that his sentence, which exceeds twenty-seven years' imprisonment, resulted from misapplication of the Sentencing Guidelines. We agree and, accordingly, remand to Chief Judge Platt for resentencing. 43 The district court's computation of Jacobs' offense level followed a two-step analysis in which, (1) the court approximated that the Mickens conspiracy distributed in excess of fifty kilograms of cocaine, based on Mickens' unexplained income of over $2,000,000 during the operation of the conspiracy; and, (2) the court attributed the full approximated amount distributed by the conspiracy to Anthony Jacobs. This quantity was added to the 24.4 grams of cocaine that Jacobs admitted to selling, and resulted in an offense level of 36. Matching Jacobs' Criminal History Category I with this offense level resulted in a sentence range of 262 to 327 months. The court sentenced Jacobs to the high end of that range. 44 The district court's initial step in calculating Jacobs' sentence was proper, as the commentary to the Guidelines reveals: 45 Where ... the amount [of drugs] seized does not reflect the scale of the offense, the sentencing judge shall approximate the quantity of the controlled substance. In making this determination the judge may consider, for example, the price generally obtained for the controlled substance, financial or other records.... 46 U.S.S.G. Sec. 2D1.4, application note 2. In theory, the court's second step was also proper. Pursuant to Guidelines Sec. 1B1.3, one convicted of a narcotics conspiracy may be sentenced on the basis of conduct of others in furtherance of the execution of the jointly-undertaken criminal activity that was reasonably foreseeable by the defendant. U.S.S.G. Sec. 1B1.3, application note 1; see United States v. Schaper, 903 F.2d 891, 897-99 (2d Cir.1990); United States v. Candito, 892 F.2d 182, 185 (2d Cir.1989). However, as applied to Jacobs, attribution of the full approximated amount of cocaine distributed by the Mickens conspiracy was improper. See United States v. Cardenas, 917 F.2d 683, 687 (2d Cir.1990). As Jacobs contends, such attribution 47 unfairly [holds him] accountable for the narcotics equivalent of four years' worth of unreported income of another, whose funds may have been accumulated at any prior time, and may have come from any source--including Mickens' independent, personal transactions in the early 1980's ..., or some other narcotics conspiracy in which Mr. Jacobs played no part, or even from some altogether different activity such as gambling. 48 Absent reliable evidence connecting Jacobs to the quantity of narcotics extrapolated from Mickens' unreported income, Jacobs' 327-month sentence is unsupportable. Moreover, ascribing managerial status to Jacobs without conducting a hearing--something which the probation department and prosecution originally agreed was necessary--was erroneous. See United States v. Lanese, 890 F.2d 1284, 1293 (2d Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2207, 109 L.Ed.2d 533 (1990). 49