Opinion ID: 782607
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Brown's Plea Allocution

Text: 33 It is not without significance that Brown's plea allocution was internally inconsistent as to the relationship between Brown and Jackson during the conspiracy. Brown's signed plea agreement expressly stated that Brown managed and supervised various couriers, including Jackson. At his oral plea allocution, the district court asked Brown whether this statement from his plea agreement was true; Brown responded that it was indeed true. The district court then specifically asked Brown whether he had any arrangements with Jackson to bring drugs into the country. Again, Brown said yes. 34 To be sure, later in his plea allocution, Brown claimed that he never supervised Jackson or requested that Jackson go to Jamaica. When asked to clarify his relationship with Jackson in light of his previous admission — both minutes earlier and in his written plea agreement — that he had indeed supervised Jackson during the conspiracy, Brown waffled once again. Brown now claimed that Jackson smuggled cocaine only for Guthrie. Brown later conceded, however, that Guthrie was the overall director of the smuggling operation and that he worked together with Guthrie and others.