Opinion ID: 28
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Developments Between the Guilty Plea and the Sentencing

Text: During the period that Peralta was awaiting his sentencing hearing, he exchanged three letters with Ortiz. On February 7, 2005, Peralta sent a letter alleging that Ortiz had promised him a sentence of 60 months based upon his deal with the Government. On March 2, 2005, Ortiz responded; he unequivocally denied that he had ever made such a promise and told Peralta that if he intended to make such an accusation, he should tell the judge immediately that he had been misled and wanted a new attorney. Ortiz offered to withdraw from representation. On March 9, 2005, Peralta wrote a letter of apology explaining that he was depressed and apparently not thinking clearly when he wrote the earlier letter. The Presentence Report attributed 7.8 kilograms of cocaine to Peralta, and accordingly calculated a base offense level of 32 under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1. [3] A two-level role enhancement and three-level reduction under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1 produced an adjusted offense level of 31. Peralta had two prior drug-trafficking convictions, which qualified him as a career offender under § 4B1.1; this resulted in a revised base offense level of 34. With a reduction for acceptance of responsibility, the total offense level became 31. The PSR calculated Peralta's criminal history score as eight. Although he would otherwise have been placed in criminal history category IV, his career-offender status placed him in criminal history category VI. The resulting guideline range was 188 to 235 months. A mandatory minimum sentence of five years also applied. [4] One of the predicate convictions under the career offender guideline was a 1988 conviction in New York for attempted sale of a controlled substance. On March 22, 1988, Peralta had been sentenced to a five-year probationary sentence on that offense; the probation was terminated early in April 1990. The 1988 conviction was a youthful offender adjudication under New York law. See N.Y.Crim. Proc. Law § 720.10. The PSR stated that Peralta was 18 years old at the time he committed the offense on January 28, 1988. The PSR listed Peralta's birth date as October 1, 1969, in two separate locations. It also listed his then-current age as 35 years, which implied a birth date between February 1969 and February 1970. Peralta raised no objection as to his date of birth or his age.