Opinion ID: 629125
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Need we resolve Palacio's constitutional claims?

Text: 9 Where a sentencing judge indicates that the same sentence would have been imposed under either of two arguably applicable guideline ranges, the dispute about which range is applicable need not be resolved either by the trial court or on appeal. See United States v. Bermingham, 855 F.2d 925, 931 (2d Cir.1988). As we have noted, the record clearly indicates that Judge Raggi intended to avoid the necessity of resolving Palacio's contention that he should be sentenced as if the flowerpots contained cocaine hydrochloride. However, in fact Palacio's guideline range sentence would not have been 120 months if the 2.9 kilograms for which he was sentenced had been characterized as cocaine hydrochloride, instead of cocaine base. In that case, the base offense level would have been 28, see U.S.S.G. Sec. 2D1.1(c)(8), and after adjusting upward for Palacio's obstruction of justice and downward for his minimal role, the adjusted offense level would have been 26. The applicable sentencing range for this adjusted offense level is 63 to 78 months. 10 The Government contends that Judge Raggi's alternative calculation for cocaine hydrochloride arrived at an adjusted offense level of 30 and a sentencing range of 97 to 121 months. According to the Government, Judge Raggi gave Palacio the four-level minimal role reduction only when assuming that he would be sentenced for cocaine base and withheld this reduction when assuming alternatively that he would be sentenced for cocaine hydrochloride. In the Government's view, the Judge added two levels for obstruction of justice to the base offense level of 28 for cocaine hydrochloride and arrived at an adjusted offense level of 30. 11 We need not decide whether such an inconsistent treatment of a minimal role adjustment would have been proper because Judge Raggi did not do what the Government suggests. Instead, she simply made an inadvertent mistake by starting her alternative calculation on the assumption that the base offense level for 2.9 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride is 32: 12 I do note that if the quantity in this case, which is just under three kilos ... [were cocaine h]ydrochloride, we would be at level 32, which would be 121 to 151 months, but there would be then the two point enhancement for obstruction, the possible four point diminution for role in the offense. It would still bring us to a guideline level that would be in the 10 year range. 13 (emphasis added). In fact, as we have noted, the base offense level for 2.9 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride is not 32, but 28. See U.S.S.G. Sec. 2D1.1(c)(8). Because Judge Raggi erred in her alternative guideline calculation and because under a correct calculation, she could not have sentenced Palacio to the same 120 months he received when sentenced for cocaine base, we must resolve the dispute as to whether Palacio can be constitutionally sentenced under the statutory provisions applicable to cocaine base.