Opinion ID: 765961
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Conversion of Cocaine Powder into Crack Cocaine

Text: 13 Fox argues that the district court erred in converting the seized cocaine powder into crack cocaine for sentencing purposes. The district court's interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines is reviewed de novo. United States v. Bailey, 139 F.3d 667, 667 (9th Cir. 1998). A district court's determination of quantity of drugs involved is a factual issue reviewed for clear error. Whitecotton, 142 F.3d at 1197. 14 Initially, Fox argues that the Sentencing Guidelines prohibit the conversion of cocaine powder to crack cocaine. We have not previously addressed this issue. However, the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits have all affirmed the conversion of powder cocaine to crack cocaine for sentencing purposes when the object of the conspiracy involved the conversion or the conversion was foreseeable. See United States v. Hunter, 145 F.3d 946, 952 (7th Cir. 1998); United States v. Quinn, 123 F.3d 1415, 1425 (11th Cir. 1997); United States v. Ford, 88 F.3d 1350, 1368 (4th Cir. 1996); United States v. Alix, 86 F.3d 429, 436-37 (5th Cir. 1996); United States v. Bingham, 81 F.3d 617, 62829 (6th Cir. 1996); United States v. Robertson , 45 F.3d 1423, 1444 (10th Cir. 1995); United States v. McMurray , 34 F.3d 1405, 1414 (8th Cir. 1994). We agree with this reasoning and align ourselves with these circuits. 15 In sentencing a person convicted of a drug related conspiracy, the sentencing court must determine the quantity and type of drugs, which were the object of the conspiracy. U.S.S.G. S 2D1.1 Application Note 12 (1998). In this case, it was clear that the object of the conspiracy was crack cocaine, not powder cocaine. As explained above, Fox knew that Potts wanted to purchase crack cocaine. Indeed, Fox attempted to purchase crack cocaine for Potts at Fox's brother's house. The object of the conspiracy was made clear to Fox when Potts told him to make it hard, in other words to make it crack cocaine. At sentencing, there was also testimony that Fox had witnessed Potts cook powder cocaine into crack cocaine at his home. Additionally, a pot and baking soda used forcooking cocaine powder into crack cocaine were found at Potts's home and entered into evidence. Based on this, the district court correctly found that the scope of the agreement was to purchase a half-ounce of crack cocaine and therefore correctly sentenced Fox based on the objective of the conspiracy. 16 Fox also argues that the district court lacked a basis for determining the conversion ratio from powder cocaine to crack cocaine. At sentencing, the government offered the testimony of Officer Bruce Bryant, who testified that he had received training on conversion of cocaine powder to crack cocaine at the police academy and from the chief chemist at the Alaska Crime Lab, and that he had witnessed the conversion of powder cocaine to crack three times on the street. Bryant testified that in a laboratory there is typically a ten percent weight loss when cooking cocaine powder into crack, but that on the street one gram of powder cocaine typically converts into one gram of crack cocaine, because street cookers use baking soda and tap water to increase the weight. There was also testimony that Potts did not measure the baking soda he used and that the crack he cooked typically had bubbles, which would increase the weight. Based on this testimony, the district court reduced the weight of the cocaine powder ten percent and sentenced Fox based on the reduced weight as though it were crack cocaine. Fox argues that Bryant had only witnessed crack being cooked three times on the street and had not weighed it before or after it was cooked. However, that goes to the credibility of the testimony, which the district court was entitled to determine. Moreover, Bryant testified that in a laboratory conversion there is a weight loss of ten percent. On these facts, the government fulfilled its burden to prove the conversion rate by a preponderance of the evidence. 3