Opinion ID: 662497
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cocaine Amount

Text: 14 Paters next contests the district court's determination for sentencing purposes that his crime involved in excess of five kilograms of cocaine. We review the sentencing court's determination of drug amounts for clear error, deferring to its credibility determinations. United States v. Pitz, 2 F.3d 723, 727 (7th Cir.1993). In a drug conspiracy, each conspirator is responsible not only for amounts with which he was directly involved, but also for amounts involved in transactions by co-conspirators that were reasonably foreseeable to him. United States v. Smith, 3 F.3d 1088, 1099 (7th Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 733, 126 L.Ed.2d 696 (1994); Pitz, 2 F.3d at 727; United States v. Goines, 988 F.2d 750, 775 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 241, 126 L.Ed.2d 195 (1993). 15 Paters' pre-sentence report (PSR) concluded that he was responsible for between five and fifteen kilograms of cocaine based on the following evidence from Paters' trial: 16 1. Co-defendant Larry Dutton testified that he obtained cocaine from Paters for both personal use and re-distribution between 1981 and 1988, and that during that period he had observed various quantities of cocaine in Paters' residences. (PSR p 6). 17 2. In September 1988, Dutton delivered most of a one to two kilogram shipment of cocaine to Paters on a front basis, and Paters repaid Dutton with proceeds from subsequent sales. (PSR p 7). 18 3. In November 1988, Paters travelled to Connecticut. He received two kilograms of cocaine from co-defendant Edward Lipnickas in exchange for $20,000. After that cocaine was transported to Green Bay, Paters distributed one kilogram and assisted Dutton in distributing the other. (PSR pp 8-9). 19 4. Between January and July of 1989, Dutton travelled to Connecticut three or four times, picking up one to two kilograms of cocaine on each trip. Dutton testified that he resold most of this cocaine to Paters. (PSR p 10). 20 5. Dutton estimated that he had purchased approximately fifteen kilograms of cocaine from Lipnickas during the course of the conspiracy. Lipnickas believed that he had sold about ten kilograms to Dutton. 21 At Paters' sentencing hearing, his counsel conceded that he could properly be held responsible for the two kilograms he had purchased from Lipnickas in Connecticut, but argued that the evidence did not support sentencing Paters for any additional amounts. (Nov. 9, 1992 Tr. at 8). He argued that the testimony of Dutton and Lipnickas, on which the calculation was based, was not credible because their testimony was at points inconsistent with that of other witnesses and of one another, as well as with their own earlier statements to the government. (Id. at 4-9). The district court responded: 22 I don't think ... this is even a close question in this case.... [L]ike many times in cases, not every witness tells or recalls the specific facts of certain events in precisely the same manner as a witness who may have testified before them. And, frankly, in my 20-some-odd years of experience, any time that other witnesses' testimony is in lock step with that on each detail with other witnesses, it's very clear that matters are scripted, as it were, and nobody deviates from the script. So the fact that there were some disparities, in my view, is also not controlling but, rather, the continuum of the course of conduct that began in 1988. 23 You say or suggest that your client was not involved in any further cocaine activities with Dutton after February of 1989. It is clear from--as what I recall the testimony and as it is reflected in paragraphs 10 and 11 of the presentence report, that there were multiple trips between January and July of 1989. And the fact that the majority of that cocaine is resold to your client I think more than amply demonstrates that your client was involved in multiple kilograms. Whether it's 10, 11 or 13, it is clearly well over the threshold of 5. 24 And so within the--within the guidelines that are otherwise applicable, I think the court, knowing what the statutory minimum is in the case, can frame an appropriate sentence. So I reject your position that your client was involved in less than five kilograms of cocaine insofar as relevant conduct to be taken into account as part of the court's sentence. 25 (Id. at 11-12). 26 On appeal, Paters argues that the district court wrongfully included as relevant conduct amounts that were attributable to the conspiracy as a whole without making any independent, specific findings that the conspiratorial agreement was broad enough to encompass those amounts. He contends that the district court failed to follow the dictates of Application Note 2 to Guidelines section 1B1.3, which provides guidance for calculating relevant conduct in conspiracy cases. But Paters' argument misses the mark, because the court's quantity calculation was not based on derivative liability. The quoted portion of the court's discussion makes clear that its finding was based only on amounts for which Paters was directly responsible. The scope of the conspiratorial agreement was therefore irrelevant to the court's finding. The district court's calculation was based on the evidence presented at trial, and its credibility determination was clearly articulated and well within the bounds of its discretion. Its determination of cocaine amount therefore was not clearly erroneous. 2