Opinion ID: 628059
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: drug quantities for sentencing

Text: 61 Adams and Davis claim that the district court erroneously determined their base offense level for sentencing under the Sentencing Guidelines by counting against them excessive quantities of marijuana. The Sentencing Guidelines in effect at the time of the sentencing of these defendants describe the conduct on which a base offense level is determined, as all acts and omissions committed or aided and abetted by the defendant, or for which the defendant would be otherwise accountable.... U.S.S.G. Sec. 1B1.3(a)(1) (Nov. 1990). The commentary to that section explains that: 62 In the case of criminal activity undertaken in concert with others, ... the conduct for which the defendant would be otherwise accountable also includes conduct of others in furtherance of the execution of the jointly-undertaken criminal activity that was reasonably foreseeable by the defendant. Because a count may be broadly worded and include the conduct of many participants over a substantial period of time, the scope of the jointly-undertaken criminal activity, and hence the relevant conduct, is not necessarily the same for every participant. 63 U.S.S.G. Sec. 1B1.3, comment. (n. 1) (Nov. 1990). Conspirators are responsible for sentencing purposes for the reasonably foreseeable acts of co-conspirators taken in furtherance of the conspiracy, but not acts in the conspiracy that were not within the scope of the defendant's agreement. United States v. Andrews, 953 F.2d 1312, 1319 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 3007, 120 L.Ed.2d 882, cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 3008, 120 L.Ed.2d 882, and cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 3048, 120 L.Ed.2d 915 (1992). A trial court's determination of the quantity of drugs for sentencing purposes is a question of fact subject to clearly erroneous review. United States v. Robinson, 935 F.2d 201, 205 (11th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 885, 116 L.Ed.2d 789 (1992). [D]istrict courts are required to make factual determinations at sentencing only by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Louis, 967 F.2d 1550, 1553 (11th Cir.1992); Andrews, 953 F.2d at 1319. We will review the contentions of the defendants with these principles in mind.
64 Davis argues that the greatest quantity of marijuana he could be charged with is about 2000 kilograms, for a base offense level of 32. The district court held Davis responsible for an amount of marijuana greater than 3000 kilograms, which resulted in a base offense level of 34. Evidence at trial showed Davis was deeply implicated in the overall scheme. Therefore, it was not clearly erroneous for the sentencing court to find that he could have reasonably foreseen a much greater amount of marijuana being imported and distributed than the already large amount to which he was directly connected.
65 The issue involving Adams presents a closer question. The district court determined that statutory mandatory minimum sentencing applied to Counts 3 and 4, and the court utilized the Sentencing Guidelines only for Counts 1 and 2, the conspiracy counts. Adams' argument concerns only the district court's application of the Guidelines, and so is applicable only to Counts 1 and 2. 66 Adams conceded that the 1200 pounds, or approximately 550 kilograms, of marijuana that would have been transported if the flight to Belize had gone as planned was attributable to him. That would have given him a base offense level of 28. The district court held that the facts would not justify attributing to Adams the amount of marijuana involved in the entire conspiracy. In rejecting a presentence investigation (PSI) recommendation that Adams be held responsible for the entire conspiratorial amount, the court stated: 67 Well, I'm troubled by that as well because there's no evidence that Mr. Adams ever touched a single bit of marijuana for which he's being held accountable. The only evidence is that he flew on a plane that intended to pick up twelve hundred pounds and did not pick up any and that was the extent of his participation. 68 .... 69 I've held in other cases it was reasonably foreseeable in this type of operation that more than one flight would be involved. Now, the question of how many flights really depends upon the individual and how that individual was recruited and what they did and how much knowledge they could reasonably be held accountable for under those circumstances.... 70 R18-8, 9, 10. The court's account of the evidence and its reasoning in rejecting the PSI recommendation were correct. Its rationale about when to hold a defendant liable for additional flights is also appropriate. 71 The problem in this case, however, is that in addition to counting against Adams the 1200 pounds of marijuana he had planned to import on the flight he took, the district court also attributed to Adams a hypothetical second load that Adams never attempted to transport. The court said: 72 And giving, you know, giving the assumption that more than one flight would have been involved, if you double that you're still no more than level thirty, I'm sure, and level thirty takes you to a thousand kilograms, which would be twenty-two hundred pounds plus. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and establish that it was only foreseeable that he would have been involved with less than a thousand kilograms, which is a level thirty. I think that's entirely consistent with the evidence. 73 R18-11. There was no evidence that Adams intended to be involved with another flight or that it was foreseeable to him that there would be another flight. The evidence concerning Adams connected him only with the one aborted smuggling trip, a trip in which the plans were to transport 1200 pounds of marijuana. A sentencing court may not speculate on the extent of a defendant's involvement in a conspiracy; instead, such a finding must be supported by a preponderance of the evidence, just as any other factfinding during sentencing. Because there was no evidence that Adams had any connection with any of the conspirators other than Runkel and no evidence that Adams was aware of or agreed to participate in a conspiracy involving more than one smuggling trip, the district court's finding that another flight was reasonably foreseeable to Adams is clearly erroneous. Although it is possible that Adams might have participated in another flight, such a prediction must be supported by a preponderance of the evidence before it can be used to increase a sentence. 74