Opinion ID: 70109
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Moss' Sentencing Appeal

Text: Moss contends that the district court should not have considered acts before his eighteenth birthday in determining the quantity of drugs attributable to him under the Sentencing Guidelines. Moss argues that virtually all of the evidence cited by the Probation Officer at the sentencing hearing in support of his conclusion as to the quantity of drugs attributable to Moss 7 The jury found Moss guilty of four counts: conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; employment of a minor; use of a firearm; and use of a telephone in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. The Government introduced surveillance videotapes showing Moss working with members of a Jivens organization. In the videotapes, Moss can be seen hiding a firearm in a flowerpot in the yard on one occasion. When the police searched the apartment where Moss conducted this activity, the officers found guns and ammunition; in the yard, they discovered cocaine. In another surveillance videotape, the jury heard Ricky Jivens angrily denounce Moss for failing to pay Jivens his entire debt and threaten to cut off Moss from future cocaine deliveries. Next the videotape shows Jivens telephoning someone. It is clear from the context that he is calling Moss. Further, Jerome Richardson testified that Moss was a member of the conspiracy and that a minor know as Little Charlie worked for Moss. Therefore, based on evidence other than CJR's testimony, the jury could have reasonably found that the Government proved Moss guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on all four counts. involved sources that provided their information before Moss' eighteenth birthday. The district court rejected this argument and adopted the Probation Officer's finding that Moss was responsible for at least five kilograms but less than fifteen kilograms of cocaine base (Base Offense Level 40). We agree.
Sentencing issues present predominantly factual issues which are reviewed under a clearly erroneous standard. 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e); United States v. Cain, 881 F.2d 980, 982 (11th Cir.1989).
Where there is one continuous conspiracy, and the defendant has straddled his eighteenth birthday by membership in that conspiracy both before and after that significant day, his prior acts could be found to be the sole basis for guilt. United States v. Cruz, 805 F.2d 1464 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1006, 107 S.Ct. 1631, 95 L.Ed.2d 204 (1987). Nevertheless, the district court charged the jury that they could find Moss guilty only for acts that he committed after his eighteenth birthday.8 Under a clearly erroneous standard, we determine that the district court was correct in sentencing Moss merely by our looking at the evidence against him after he turned eighteen on July 21, 1991. The Government introduced into evidence a July 23, 1991, audio tape of the first telephone call made (at its request) by undercover informant Jerome Richardson to Ricky Jivens. On the 8 Although this instruction was proposed by the Government, it appears that Moss received the benefit of instruction to which he was not entitled. See United States v. Cruz, 805 F.2d 1464 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1006, 107 S.Ct. 1631, 95 L.Ed.2d 204 (1987). tape, Richardson tells Jivens that the police have been questioning him about certain of Jivens' activities. Jivens asks Richardson if the police have inquired about certain individuals; one of the first names Jivens mentions on the tape is Muffie, Moss' nickname. Richardson testified that he was at a Savannah bar in August 1991, with Moss. Moss' pager went off and Moss dispatched a young man named Telly to get an ounce of cocaine. Richardson further testified that Moss delivered $20,000 on one occasion, and $10,000 on another occasion, to Jivens. In a September 18, 1991, videotape introduced into evidence by the Government, Ricky Jivens states that he is tired of Moss shorting him on payments. The last undercover call made from Richardson to Moss occurred after Ricky Jivens was arrested on September 20, 1991. Agents directed Richardson to call Moss and to pose as Ricky Jivens. Moss told Richardson, thinking him to be Jivens, [that] it was a slow day. When Moss was arrested that night, he was in the company of Michael Williams, another indicted coconspirator, and had a cellular telephone and a pager in his possession. Even considering only Moss' post-eighteen criminal conduct, we find there is ample evidence against Moss to substantiate the 9 sentences for the offenses of which he was convicted. The district court was not clearly erroneous in its finding that Moss had a base offense level of 40 and in sentencing him accordingly. 9 Moss was convicted of: conspiracy to distribute cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (Count One); employing a minor to distribute controlled substances, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 861(a)(1) (Count Two); use of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (Count Three); and use of a communication facility to commit a drug felony, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 843(b) and (c) (Count Ten).