Opinion ID: 857975
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Douglas’s Additional Conduct

Text: Unbeknownst to the district court (and to the prosecutors handling his case) at the time of his first sentencing, Douglas had recently been discovered to be in possession of contraband yet again. While in BOP custody, Douglas had convinced one of his attorneys – with whom he had begun a romantic relationship – to smuggle approximately thirty unprescribed Xanax pills to him in the MCC. He took some of the pills himself and provided others to other inmates. This additional misconduct came to the attention of the prosecutors only when they were asked to enter an immunity agreement covering Douglas’s uncharged criminal activity to facilitate his testimony against the Escalera brothers, who by that point had been located and arrested. Notwithstanding the Xanax incident, on October 4, 2011, Douglas testified against David Escalera, who was convicted by a jury and later sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment. However, less than two weeks after the completion of David Escalera’s trial, and before the scheduled separate trial for Eduardo Escalera, Douglas was found in possession of contraband for a third time while incarcerated or under supervision. On October 16, a BOP staff member suspicious of window coverings in Douglas’s cell and Douglas’s furtive movements searched his person and cell and discovered a piece of paper with traces of white powder on it as well as a small amount (0.028 grams) of an orange rock-like substance. Later testing showed the rock-like substance to be Suboxone, a drug used to treat heroin addiction, for which Douglas did not have a prescription. 6 Although lab analysis of the powder on the paper was inconclusive, Douglas later admitted the substance was heroin. After submitting to urinalysis, Douglas also tested positive for opiates. Douglas told prosecutors that he had found the heroin either in the television room or in the chapel. He told the government that he had not sought out the heroin and that it was not originally intended for him. Four days later, on October 20, the government filed an information charging Douglas with one count of possession of a prohibited object while an inmate of a federal prison, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1791(a)(2) and (b)(1). The same day, pursuant to a plea agreement, Douglas pled guilty. The agreement stipulated that Douglas’s offense level under the sentencing guidelines was 11 and that his Criminal History Category was III. After giving Douglas credit for acceptance of responsibility, the agreement calculated his guidelines sentence range as twelve to eighteen months’ imprisonment. The agreement preserved the government’s right to seek an enhancement for obstruction of justice if Douglas had “engaged in conduct, unknown to the Government at the time of the signing of this Agreement, that constitutes obstruction of justice.” In its Presentence Report (“PSR”) to the district court, the Probation Office recommended a sentence of 366 days’ imprisonment. According to the Probation Office, that recommendation was shorter than it might otherwise have been in light of administrative sanctions already imposed on Douglas, which included eleven months’ disciplinary segregation in the Special Housing Unit and eighty days’ canceled “good 7 conduct” credit toward his early release. However, the PSR was submitted before the Probation Office learned that Douglas had misled the government about how he obtained the heroin. After Douglas entered his plea but before he was sentenced, another MCC inmate (a cooperating witness in another case) informed the government that Douglas had not found the heroin on the ground but instead had bought it from him. In short, Douglas had not only purchased heroin while in prison, he had lied to prosecutors in an effort to mislead them about the seriousness of his conduct. As a result of this deception, the government elected not to call Douglas as a witness at the trial of Eduardo Escalera. At sentencing, Douglas urged the district court not to impose additional punishment beyond the administrative sanctions he had already received. Additionally, he urged the court to consider his seven-year history of drug addiction as a mitigating factor because his conduct was best explained not by a desire to break the law but by the effects of, among other things, Opioid Protracted Abstinence Syndrome (“OPAS”).2 The 2 Dr. Carol J. Weiss, a psychiatrist who provided an expert report to the district court discussing Douglas’s mental health issues, described OPAS as “a phenomenon well documented in the medical scientific literature” that “is the primary cause of relapse in long term opioid users.” As Dr. Weiss described it, OPAS is caused by the long-term chemical deficiency that results from the damage done by heroin to the body’s ability to produce natural opioids. This altered neurochemical state, which has been characterized as a “brain-related disorder with genetic and environmental overlays characteristic of a medical illness,” can increase the probability of relapse years after detoxification. See Herbert D. Kleber, Methadone Maintenance 4 Decades Later, 300 J. Am. Med. Ass’n 2303, 2304 (2008); Jordi Camí & Magí Farré, Drug Addiction, 349 New Engl. J. Med. 975, 983 (2003). 8 best solution to his problems, he argued, was not punishment but treatment. Because he was approaching the eligibility period for RDAP treatment at the time of his offense, Douglas urged the court not to add time to his sentence, which would prolong the time before he could enter that program. Finally, Douglas noted the relative rarity with which drug possession in prison was prosecuted criminally and the small amount of drugs he had possessed. The government’s sentencing memorandum urged the district court to apply a twolevel obstruction-of-justice enhancement, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1, an adjustment that would have raised Douglas’s guidelines sentencing range to 18 to 24 months’ imprisonment. The government asked the district court to impose a sentence “at the high end” of the guidelines range in view of what it characterized as Douglas’s “repeated inability to conform his conduct to the law, his demonstrated disrespect for the criminal justice system, his decision to provide false information to the Government, and the seriousness of the offense.” Gov’t Sentencing Mem. at 4-5. The district court sentenced Douglas on December 21, 2011. At the outset, the district court noted that Douglas had “been continuously reckless, disruptive and noncompliant.” Sentencing Tr. at 4. The district court applied the obstruction-of-justice enhancement requested by the government and also denied Douglas the benefit of the acceptance-of-responsibility credit. The district court therefore calculated Douglas’s sentencing guidelines range as twenty-four to thirty months’ imprisonment. 9 Based on its review of the factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), the district court determined that there were grounds to impose a more severe sentence than that recommended by the guidelines. The district court focused on several factors: Douglas’s “history of reckless behavior,” his “extensive substance abuse and mental health issue history,” and his “continued pursuit of drugs.” Sentencing Tr. at 12-13, 15. The district court also described the Xanax and Suboxone incidents, noted that it had been unaware of the former at the time of Douglas’s first sentencing, and criticized both defense counsel and the government for sweeping those facts “under the rug.” Sentencing Tr. at 16. The district court characterized the original, sixty-month sentence it imposed on Douglas as “the biggest opportunity of his life,” which Douglas had “blown.” Sentencing Tr. at 18. After considering the administrative sanctions already imposed by the BOP and hearing argument from both sides, the district court imposed a sentence of fifty-four months’ imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release. The court noted that it believed an upward variance was appropriate because of Douglas’s “pattern of reckless, criminal, dangerous, destructive, deceitful conduct even after being afforded a last chance” by the court’s prior sentence. Sentencing Tr. at 57. In support of its decision to impose an above-guidelines sentence, the district court cited United States v. Rossi, 422 F. App’x 425 (6th Cir. 2011) (unpublished opinion), United States v. Nix, 415 F. App’x 981 (11th Cir. 2011) (unpublished opinion), and United States v. Pope, 554 F.3d 240 (2d Cir. 2009). 10 On December 23, 2011, Douglas filed a timely notice of appeal.