Opinion ID: 195951
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the road to sentencing

Text: 7 On March 2, a federal grand jury charged Muniz with possessing cocaine, intending to distribute it, 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(a)(1), conspiracy to distribute, 21 U.S.C. Sec. 846, and aiding and abetting, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2. Shortly thereafter, the government filed a notice memorializing its position that, for the purpose of determining Muniz's offense level under the federal sentencing guidelines, the prosecution would seek to hold him accountable for five to fifteen kilograms of cocaine, thus triggering a ten-year minimum mandatory sentence on the conspiracy count under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(1)(A)(ii). The notice also admonished that a five-year minimum mandatory sentence applied to the other count under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(1)(B)(ii). 8 On March 29, Muniz pled guilty to both counts of the indictment. In the plea contract, the parties agreed to disagree anent length of sentence; the government continued to advocate a ten-year sentence, while Muniz asserted that only a five-year minimum applied because his case involved well under five kilograms of cocaine. At the change-of-plea hearing, both parties stuck to their guns. The government reiterated that Muniz should be held responsible for at least five kilograms of cocaine because he agreed to deliver that amount to the undercover agent. Muniz, however, dismissed any statements he had made about undelivered quantities as mere puffing or exaggerating, and urged that he should only be held accountable for the amount of contraband actually delivered. 9 The Probation Department sided with the government. In espousing this view, the PSI Report alluded not only to the events occurring on February 4 and 5 but also to the post-arrest statements of Muniz, Camille Belle, and Villar intimating that they had dealt with each other on a regular basis in the past. Muniz filed a number of objections to the PSI Report. He continued to debunk statements he had made about his ability to procure the full five kilograms of cocaine as unfounded rodomontade, and argued that he had no means of obtaining so huge a quantity. In respect to past dealings, Muniz admitted that he had delivered 125 grams of cocaine to Camille Belle in late 1993 but denied having sold drugs on any other occasion. Not to be outdone, the government filed an affidavit signed by a DEA agent, Steven Story, corroborating many of the facts recited in the PSI Report.