Opinion ID: 203873
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Drug Quantity Computation

Text: In determining drug quantity for purposes of calculating a defendant's base offense level under the Guidelines, the sentencing court may attribute to the defendant `all reasonably foreseeable quantities of contraband that were within the scope of the criminal activity that he jointly undertook.' United States v. Jones, 523 F.3d 31, 41 (1st Cir.2008) (quoting U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 cmt. n. 2(ii)). Absent an individualized finding as to drug amounts attributable to, or foreseeable by a particular defendant, a court may not automatically assume that he is responsible for the total amount attributable to the conspiracy as a whole, Colón-Solís, 354 F.3d at 102-03. However, a drug dealer who engages in criminal activity with others to further their collective interests may be held liable for the quantities of drugs sold by his partners, if those sales were a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the jointly undertaken actions. United States v. Laboy, 351 F.3d 578, 582 (1st Cir.2003). The government must prove drug quantity by a preponderance of the evidence, and we will uphold the sentencing court's estimate as long as it is reasoned and finds support in the record. Jones, 523 F.3d at 41. Sabino-Morales argues that the most the evidence showed at trial was that defendant-appellant was a late-joining conspirator, who worked sporadically and was a runner only for a certain period of time during 2003. He claims that because there was no evidence that he continued running drugs into 2004, it was improper for the district court to include 2004 in the calculations, and that his sentence reflected the court's improper attribution to him individually of the drug amount for which the entire conspiracy was responsible. This argument is unavailing. In the first place, the district court obviously understood the need for individualized drug quantity determinations pursuant to Colón-Solís, because it asked the probation office to produce reports with respect to each defendant. Moreover, at a sentencing proceeding involving counsel for all defendants, the court heard extensive arguments challenging these determinations, and explained its position that the evidence amply supported the fact that each defendant could have reasonably foreseen that the conspiracy would move at least five kilograms of cocaine. This determination is supported by the record. The probation officer's report was based on Medina's testimony. Medina testified that prior to 2003, Sabino-Morales would sometimes work the table at Covadonga, decking drugs. In 2003 (on one occasion Medina characterized the date as mid-2003), Sabino-Morales began to act as a runner for Wilfre Feliciano. Indeed, Sabino-Morales was the conspiracy's only runner for at least some period of time, meaning that during that time period he was running drugs every single day. According to Medina, runners would bring fresh supplies of drugs to the point up to five times a day. The cocaine would arrive in packages of one-hundred small baggies. The report also noted the expert testimony of a forensic chemist who stated that it would take approximately 1,759 of the small baggies of cocaine to equal 1 kilogram. The probation officer's report on Sabino-Morales calculated that he was responsible for a total of 86.68 kilograms of cocaine. [17] As we have described, however, the district court did not adopt the report's calculation. Instead, it used only the more conservative five kilogram quantity to sentence Sabino-Morales. The record easily justifies that quantity determination, even on the most conservative assumptions. If one credits Sabino-Morales's assertion that he worked as a runner only during 2003, and assumes that Medina was correct that Sabino-Morales only began working as a runner in the middle of that year, and assumes further that Sabino-Morales worked for only one day a week during that time period and not every single day, these factors would still lead to the conclusion that, during his time as a drug runner, Sabino-Morales personally handled 7.39 kilograms [18] of cocaine. Even this estimate, which certainly gives Sabino-Morales the benefit of the doubt, is more than the five kilograms used by the district court for sentencing purposes. And this figure does not even include the drugs foreseeably handled by other members of the conspiracy. Accordingly, we find no error in the district court's determination as to drug quantity with respect to Sabino-Morales.