Opinion ID: 552340
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prescott's Sentence

Text: 9 On completion of the mental status hearing, the district court held a sentencing hearing, in part to determine the reliability and accuracy of the information contained in the presentence report. Prescott objected to the report's reliance on hearsay evidence in arriving at a figure of 150 kilograms of cocaine attributed to him. This quantity was based on an estimate that he was involved in the sale or distribution of one kilogram of cocaine per week over a period of three years. 10 The presentence report based its conclusion on information obtained from several sources. The report's conclusion that Prescott distributed approximately a kilogram of cocaine per week for 150 weeks was supported by Prescott's admission of those facts and was corroborated by an informant. This estimate of quantity was further buttressed by information obtained from seven individuals, three of whom testified before a grand jury. The information in the presentence report obtained from defendant's former business partner in an auto repair business stated that in their best week they moved ten kilograms of cocaine. Another of defendant's associates told an undercover agent that Prescott sold two and one-half to three kilograms of cocaine per week. His girlfriend--later married to, then separated from defendant--told the investigators that 16 named individuals worked for appellant in a business selling four to five thousand dollars worth of cocaine a day. Perhaps most telling was the fact that in the two and one-half months that Prescott owned a cellular telephone from August 2 to October 19, 1989, he ran up an unpaid telephone bill of $5,139.38. The telephone company records revealed a total of 12,611 incoming and outgoing calls in 79 days or nearly 160 calls a day on average. 11 The district court approximated the quantity of cocaine involved in the offense, see Commentary to Guidelines Sec. 2D1.4, and found the information in the pre-sentence report credible, relying on the fact that several people gave substantially the same information regarding the nature and scope of Prescott's drug activity. 12 Appellant's original base offense level of 36 under Sec. 2D1.4 of the Guidelines--based on the distribution of 150 kilograms of cocaine--was increased by four levels because Prescott was the leader of the drug conspiracy, and was reduced by two points for his acceptance of responsibility under Guidelines Sec. 3E1.1(a), yielding a final base offense level of 38. Prescott had a previous conviction for assault on a police officer for which he received a two-year suspended sentence and probation. To this one point for a prior sentence, two points were added because the instant offense was committed while he was on probation. See Guidelines Sec. 4A1.1(e). This placed Prescott in Criminal History Category II with a sentencing range of 262 to 327 months. The district court declined to downwardly depart under Sec. 5K2.13, stating it could not find that Prescott's personality disorder contributed to the offense.