Opinion ID: 2976206
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: No. 07-3153 United States v. Dixon On July 28, 2000, the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) in Miami, Florida, arrested several individuals for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. One of these individuals agreed to cooperate with the DEA and arranged a sale of sham cocaine to Dixon. At some time on October 2, 2000, Dixon drove a 1996 Volvo to a car wash located at 706 West 3rd Street in Dayton, Ohio, where the delivery of the cocaine was to be made. When the vehicle containing the sham cocaine arrived, Dixon drove the Volvo out of the car wash and parked it in an adjacent lot to make room for the arriving vehicle. Once inside the car wash, the DEA’s confidential informant opened the trunk of his vehicle and exchanged the sham cocaine with cash from Dixon. Following this transaction, DEA agents entered the locked car wash, using a hatchet to gain entry, and arrested Dixon. While still at the car wash but following his arrest, Dixon was informed that the Volvo would be towed, at which point Dixon requested that the items in the car be removed and returned to either his girlfriend or to his cousin. Officer Chris Weber asked Dixon for a key to the locked Volvo, and upon receipt of the key, Weber proceeded to unlock the vehicle and move the items found inside into the car wash. On the passenger side of the car, Weber found a closed bag containing a loaded Raven MP-25 .25 caliber pistol as well as Dixon’s identification. At this point, Weber informed Dixon of his Miranda rights. Dixon then told Weber that the gun was his, that he had possessed it for about ten years, and that he had brought it with him to the car wash.
On October 25, 2000, Dixon was indicted on a single count of attempting to possess with intent to distribute in excess of five kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), 21 -2- No. 07-3153 United States v. Dixon U.S.C. § 856 and 18 U.S.C. § 2. On February 24, 2003, Dixon entered a plea of guilty pursuant to a plea agreement. Under the plea agreement, Dixon retained the right to dispute any Government recommendation for a two-level upward adjustment for possession of a dangerous weapon pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1(b)(1). On March 18, 2003, the probation officer completed his initial Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”), in which he recommended the application of the § 2D1.1(b)(1) enhancement. Dixon objected to the recommended enhancement as well as the PSR’s failure to recommend a safety-valve reduction. Dixon filed his sentencing memorandum on September 5, 2003, and the Government filed theirs on September 17, 2003. The district court conducted a sentencing hearing on September 18, 2003. When addressing the § 2D1.1(b)(1) enhancement, the district court stated the burden of proof as follows: [I]t’s the burden of the government to prove by a preponderance or greater weight of the evidence that the weapon was possessed, actually or constructively. Once that is shown, then the burden of proof shifts to the defendant in order to demonstrate that it was clearly improbable that the weapon was connected to the offense. (Joint Appendix (“JA”) 226.) The district court rejected Dixon’s argument that, even if the transaction had not ended in Dixon’s arrest, it would have been improbable that the car containing the gun would have been used to transport the drugs because there was no evidence that Dixon planned on moving the drugs. Instead, the district court stated: Here’s my point: I will assume arguendo that it is at least equally probable that the controlled substances would have been kept in the car wash as opposed to being removed in the same car in which your client drove to the car wash. That’s as far as I’m willing to go. The problem is that equal likelihood, equal probability does not equate with the defendant’s proving discharging his burden of proof that it is clearly improbable that the weapon was used in connection with the offense. And I think it very highly -3- No. 07-3153 United States v. Dixon logical that this defendant would have removed the controlled substance in the same vehicle in which he drove to the car wash. .... I am satisfied that, based upon the facts of this case, and the law, that the ruling is correct. The objection [to the enhancement] is overruled. So, too, is the objection for not recommending the safety valve. (JA 237-40.) The district court then sentenced Dixon based on an offense level of thirty-two, “plus two for possessing a semiautomatic handgun, a dangerous weapon, the defendant admitted the gun was his, that he’d driven with it to the site,” and that “for reasons put on the record already, the Court concludes that it was not clearly improbable” that the gun was possessed for purposes of the transaction. (JA 245.) The district court also found that “the possession of the weapon results in no deduction for the safety valve.” (Id.) The district court then applied a two-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility and an additional one-level reduction at the Government’s recommendation for Dixon’s timely notification of an intent to plead guilty, reaching a final offense level of thirty-one. Given his criminal history level of one, the sentencing range was calculated at 108-135 months, but with a ten-year mandatory minimum sentence because of the presence of a weapon and the absence of a safety-valve reduction.1 The district court then sentenced Dixon to 120 months imprisonment to be followed by a five-year supervised release. 1 Defendants who meet the requirements of the safety valve can receive a sentence that is beneath the mandatory minimum otherwise prescribed. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f); U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2. Here, if the safety valve were invoked, the adjustment would be two levels downward. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(6). -4- No. 07-3153 United States v. Dixon Dixon timely appealed. This Court vacated the sentence and remanded the case on April 18, 2005, for resentencing consistent with United States v. Bolka, 355 F.3d 909, 913 (6th Cir. 2004), and United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005). United States v. Dixon, No. 03-4266 (6th Cir. April 18, 2005) (order). At the resentencing hearing, the court rejected Dixon’s request to apply the safety-valve reduction because Dixon had declined to provide the Government all the information within his knowledge regarding a double homicide that occurred two months prior to the transaction at the car wash. Relying on in camera testimony presented by the prosecution, the district court concluded that this information was sufficient to demonstrate that “the issue of whether the two homicides was in fact related to the offense or offenses that were part of the same course of conduct or of a common scheme or plan . . . [and that the proffer] led this Court to conclude, rightly or wrongly, that answering this question was appropriate under prong five of the safety valve.” (JA 281-82.) The court then discussed issues regarding the constitutionality of the fifth prong of § 5C1.2(a), and returned to the issue of the safety valve only to state that “this Court finds that the defendant has not satisfied prong five of the safety valve.” (JA 283.) Additionally, the district court found that, even if Dixon had satisfied the fifth prong, he still would fail based on prong two. Here, the district court once again found that Dixon possessed the gun for purposes of both the two-level sentencing enhancement of U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1) and prong two of the safety-valve in § 5C1.2(a): The two-level enhancement is to be given for possessing of a weapon in the course of the offense. The Court concluded at the time of the initial sentencing and concludes today that it is not clearly improbable that the weapon was connected to -5- No. 07-3153 United States v. Dixon the offense. It was not shown to be clearly improbable that the weapon was connected to the offense. I think the two-level enhancement was properly given and will be given again. .... [For the purposes of prong two of the safety valve] the Court concludes that the defendant has failed to show that the firearm was not possessed in connection with the offense. We do not know whether that weapon would have in effect been used in connection with the offense if moved to the car or not used in connection with the offense had it remained; the cocaine in the car wash. Accordingly, we feel the defendant has not proven by a preponderance or greater weight of the evidence that this weapon was not connected to or with the offense. I would make this statement. That prong two is a non-issue if the Court’s ruling on prong five is correct. (JA 284-87.) Following this analysis, the district court resentenced Dixon to the same sentence as he had originally received: 120 months incarceration to be followed by a five-year supervised release. (JA 290-96.) Once again, Dixon timely appealed.