Opinion ID: 700927
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Roosevelt Pitts

Text: 2 After determining that Pitts had two prior violent felony convictions, one of which involved the sale of .83 grams of cocaine to an undercover officer, the district court enhanced Pitts's Base Offense Level of 24 to 29 under United States Sentencing Guidelines Sec. 4B1.1 because Pitts qualified as a career offender under the Guidelines. After a reduction for acceptance of responsibility, Pitts's offense level was 26 and thus the guideline range for a term of imprisonment was 120 to 150 months. Pitts was sentenced to ten years (120 months) imprisonment and two years supervised release. 3 We review a district court's sentencing determinations only in limited circumstances, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3742(a), such as where the court misapplies the Guidelines. Pitts now renews his argument that the district court misapplied the Guidelines by enhancing his sentence under USSG Sec. 4B1.1, the career offender provision. Pitts argues that to apply Section 4B1.1 to him unfairly and disproportionately overstates the seriousness of his criminal history. Pitts believes that one of his prior convictions, that for selling .83 grams of cocaine, was de minimis. The district court, however, found that Pitts used a 16-year old to hold the cocaine during this offense and that Pitts sold cocaine as a means of supporting himself. Thus, even if we were to decide contrary to precedent 3 that the district court should have considered the amount of cocaine involved, the court did not err in determining that Pitts qualified as a career offender for sentencing under Section 4B1.1. Further, these facts simply do not warrant departure under the policy statement in USSG Sec. 4A1.1. See United States v. Fletcher, 15 F.3d 553 (6th Cir.1990) (citing United States v. Joan, 883 F.2d 491 (6th Cir.1989) (stating that one factor for departure is that a case must be sufficiently unusual to warrant departure)). 4 Pitts also argues that the court erred by failing to consider whether his drug addiction and his strong family ties warranted departure. While a history of success in rehabilitating oneself from a substance addiction may be one ground warranting departure, Fletcher, 15 F.3d 553, the Guidelines state that [d]rug or alcohol abuse is not a reason for imposing a sentence below the guidelines. USSG Sec. 5H1.4 p.s. Further, stating that one has strong family ties without stating more extraordinary circumstances warranting departure is not sufficient to justify a departure. USSG Sec. 5H1.6 p.s. Here, Pitts states that he is close to and provides for his children. However, the children live with their mother and have other means of support. While it is understandable that Pitts would desire to be with his children and continue to provide for them, his situation is all too common and not the extraordinary circumstance that would warrant departure.