Opinion ID: 699083
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Responsibility for Importing Two Thousand Kilograms of Cocaine

Text: 12 Whittenburg claims that the district court erred in finding Whittenburg responsible for importing two thousand kilograms of cocaine. This finding is significant for two reasons. The district court reasoned that two thousand kilograms of cocaine was a quantity not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission and, thus, an aggravating circumstance justifying upward departure from the guidelines range. 5 United States v. Chatlin, 51 F.3d 869, 872 (9th Cir. 1995) (In imposing a sentence, a district court may depart from the guidelines when it finds aggravating circumstances of a kind, or to a degree, not adequately taken into consideration by the Sentencing Commission in formulating the guidelines.) (citation omitted). In addition, the district court utilized the two thousand kilogram figure in its calculation of the appropriate extent of the upward departure. 6 We review for clear error factual findings relied upon by the district court as the basis for its upward departure. United States v. Lira-Barraza, 941 F.2d 745, 746-47 (9th Cir. 1991) (en banc). 13 There is ample support in the record for the district court's conclusion that Whittenburg was responsible for importing at least two thousand kilograms of cocaine. In mid-1985, Whittenburg participated in the first of approximately twenty-one flights to smuggle cocaine into the United States. In August or September of 1987, Whittenburg unloaded 1,100 kilograms of cocaine from an aircraft that Whittenburg had landed at the Hughes Terminal at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas. In March of 1988, Whittenburg flew from Mexico to the Chino Airport in Southern California with a load of 700 to 1,000 pounds, or over 300 kilograms, of cocaine. In December 1988, Whittenburg returned to the United States from the Philippines with plans to fly the plane in an operation to smuggle approximately 7,000 pounds of cocaine from Mexico. 7 These illustrations of Whittenburg's importation activities, while not exhaustive, clearly support the district court's conclusion that Whittenburg was responsible for at least two thousand kilograms of cocaine. 14