Opinion ID: 3000623
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: McCoy’s PSR and Sentencing Hearing

Text: McCoy’s PSR determined that he was responsible for conspiring with Artley and others to possess and/or distribute at least 15 kilograms but not more than 50 kilograms of cocaine. The PSR recommended applying a two-level enhancement, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1), for possession of a dangerous weapon in a place where drugs were present, and a four-level enhancement, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a), for being an organizer or leader of a criminal activity involving five or more participants. McCoy filed a written objection to the PSR, challenging 6 Nos. 05-2127 & 05-2220 the inclusion of the uncharged drug amounts and the leader/organizer enhancement. McCoy complained that the hearsay statements taken from his former drug associates and family members unfairly increased his culpability from 309.64 grams of cocaine, which was the amount seized during the controlled buys, to an uncharged, collateral amount of between 15 and 50 kilograms of cocaine. At sentencing, McCoy did not call a single witnesses to dispute the statements contained in the PSR. In determining McCoy’s relevant conduct, the district court stated that it had considered the 309.64 grams of cocaine seized during the controlled buys, the 38.6 ounces of cocaine that agents recovered outside of Artley’s apartment after the shooting of Adrian Bowdry, and the cocaine packaging that agents found in the trash at McCoy’s residence. The district court also relied on statements from the PSR made by Mitchell, Franklin, Hagberg, McCarroll, Smith, Savage, Verriden, and the confidential informants in calculating McCoy’s relevant conduct. The district court concluded that a reasonable estimate of the cocaine quantities distributed by McCoy fell well within the range of at least 15 but not more than 50 kilograms of cocaine. After determining McCoy’s relevant conduct, the district court calculated McCoy’s advisory sentencing guideline range. The calculations started with a base offense level of 34, according to § 2D1.1(c)(3), because the offense involved at least 15 but less than 50 kilograms of cocaine. The district court added two additional levels, finding that McCoy was involved in a jointly undertaken criminal activity with Artley and others in which firearms were possessed. The district court also applied a four-level enhancement to McCoy’s base level because it found that he had acted as the leader of an extensive criminal activity that involved five or more participants. After Nos. 05-2127 & 05-2220 7 applying a three-level credit for acceptance of responsibility, the district court calculated that McCoy’s total offense level was 37. Based on an offense level of 37, and a criminal history category of IV, the district court determined that the imprisonment range for McCoy was 292 to 360 months.1 The district court ordered McCoy to pay a $50,000 fine and sentenced him to 328 months in prison and six years of supervised release.