Opinion ID: 77470
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Drug Quantity Evidence

Text: 11 On appeal, Pham first argues that the district court erred by allowing the government to use statements and information obtained pursuant to his plea and cooperation or from sources provided by Pham and previously unknown to the government to enhance his sentence in violation of U.S.S.G. § 1B1.8, which prohibits a court from relying on evidence at sentencing that was provided to the government as a means of cooperation under the plea agreement. Specifically, he argues that § 1B1.8's plain language requires that any corroboration of Pham's statements given pursuant to a plea agreement and cooperation must have been before the entry of the agreement, and, therefore, because the government's evidence of drug weight was the same as the statements given by Pham, his sentence must be vacated. Pham further argues that it was only after he gave his statement regarding drug quantity that the government proceeded to use his statement, directly or indirectly, to get a confirmation of that drug quantity from Nguyen. Pham argues that the evidence used to enhance his sentence, therefore, was tainted. He also argues that the government failed to meet its burden of showing that its evidence was derived from an independent source, and not Pham's immunized statements. Lastly, Pham argues that the government's use of his statements amounted to a breach of the plea agreement and his case should be remanded for resentencing before a different judge because permitting the agreement to stand would drastically restrict the candor of informants. 12 This issue presents a question of first impression in this Circuit. We conclude, like the other circuits to have addressed the issue, that where a defendant alleges a violation of U.S.S.G. § 1B1.8 in district court, the court is required to make factual findings that are reviewed for clear error. See United States v. Gibson, 48 F.3d 876, 878 (5th cir.1995); United States v. St. Julian, 922 F.2d 563, 566 (10th Cir.1990). 13 Section 1B1.8 provides that, [w]here a defendant agrees to cooperate with the government by providing information concerning unlawful activities of others, and. . . the government agrees that self-incriminating information . . . will not be used against the defendant, then such information shall not be used in determining the applicable guideline range. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.8(a). However, some information is also excepted from the rule, such as information known to the government prior to entering the agreement, information regarding prior convictions, and information in a prosecution for perjury. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.8(b)(1)-(3). Subsection (a) also does not apply in the event the defendant breaches the agreement or in a case where a downward departure for substantial assistance may be warranted. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.8(b)(4)-(5). 14 While we have not addressed the specific question presented, we are not without some guidance from other circuits. The Third Circuit, citing Gibson, supra, has held that the use of information post-dating the agreement and obtained from independent sources is not barred. United States v. Baird, 218 F.3d 221, 231 (3d Cir.2000). Information separately gleaned from co-defendants is also fair game . . . . Id. (citation omitted). However, the government may not evade U.S.S.G. § 1B1.8(a) where the evidence was elicited solely as a result of, or prompted by, the defendant's cooperation. Id. We agree and conclude that, so long as the information is obtained from independent sources or separately gleaned from codefendants, it may be used at sentencing without violating § 1B1.8. We turn now to the evidence presented by the government. 15 The government offered Agent Johnson's testimony, which showed that, while Pham told authorities about the drug quantities transferred to North Carolina, that information was not provided in any way to Nguyen, who later corroborated Pham's statement regarding drug quantity in an interview. There was no evidence that Johnson induced Nguyen to discuss those drug quantities by using Pham's statements or that Nguyen would not have told authorities about those drug quantities absent Pham's cooperation and agreement. In this respect, Pham's case is similar to a Tenth Circuit case, United States v. Davis, 912 F.2d 1210, 1213 (10th Cir. 1990), where the defendant made the same argument advanced by Pham—that the district court relied on his statements regarding drug quantity in violation of the plea agreement. The Tenth Circuit rejected the defendant's claims, stating: 16 There is no indication that the co-defendants' statements were elicited as a result of Davis' plea agreement with the government, and Davis provided no evidence that, had he refused to cooperate, his co-defendants likewise would not have offered the information about the correct quantity of drugs involved. While there may be some concern that the use of the co-defendants' information against Davis may lead future defendants to refuse to cooperate in investigations, it is clear that the sentencing judge did not use Davis' own information against him. The plea agreement was not violated by the use of statements of Davis' co-defendants. 17 Id. 18 To the extent that Pham argues that the government failed to meet its burden of proof, his argument is meritless. The government did not just include an unsubstantiated statement of fact in the PSI and rely on it. Cf. United States v. Shacklett, 921 F.2d 580, 584 (5th Cir.1991) (rejecting the district court's use of information post-dating a § 1B1.8 agreement because that information was based on an unproduced report made by an unidentified DEA agent at an unknown time and neither the informant nor the agent appeared to testify, rendering the report unreliable). Here, the government proffered the testimony of the agent who interviewed both Pham and Nguyen, and he testified that Nguyen independently and without mention of Pham's statements provided drug quantity information. The district court, although it did not explicitly say so, obviously found Agent Johnson's testimony credible, a decision that we are not in a position to question absent some evidence to the contrary. We afford substantial deference to the factfinder, in this case, the district court, in reaching credibility determinations with respect to witness testimony. United States v. McPhee, 336 F.3d 1269, 1275 (11th Cir. 2003). Based on Johnson's testimony, it cannot be said that the district court clearly erred by finding that the drug quantity was based on statements other than Pham's. See also Gibson, 48 F.3d at 879 (persuasively holding that the district court's determination that § 1B1.8 was not violated would not be disturbed where probation officer unequivocally testified that none of the drug quantity information was obtained from the defendant's statements and the defendant had adduced no evidence to show that he was instrumental in obtaining Jefferson's and McGee's cooperation.). 19 The case Pham principally relies upon is United States v. Foster, 889 F.2d 1049 (11th Cir.1989), where we vacated a defendant's sentence and remanded for resentencing before a different judge after the government breached a plea agreement by using the defendant's statements, which were given as part of the agreement and suggested a greater involvement of drug activity than previously thought, against him for purposes of sentencing. Foster, 889 F.2d at 1055-56. However, the only evidence in Foster was the defendant's own statements, and the government there conceded the breach of the plea agreement as a result. Id. Here, however, the enhanced sentence was based on independently obtained statements of a codefendant, and, therefore, Foster is factually distinguishable. 20 Based on the foregoing, we conclude that the district court properly considered evidence of drug quantity obtained from an independent source, in this case a codefendant, and did not violate § 1B1.8. Furthermore, we conclude that the government offered unrebutted testimony of the interviewing agent, who stated that Pham's statements were not used in any way to induce a codefendant to discuss the drug quantities forming the basis for Pham's enhancement. Therefore, the district court did not clearly err by finding that Pham's debriefing was not used to establish drug quantity.