Opinion ID: 711611
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Victor Pennell

Text: 16 The district court initially sentenced Victor Pennell to 180 months in prison because it found that, as an assistant to the conspiracy's drug supplier, Timothy Galbraith, Pennell was responsible for the entire drug quantity for which Galbraith was responsible. We affirmed his conviction on drug conspiracy charges but remanded his sentence because the district court made inadequate on-the-record findings as to the scope of the criminal activity Pennell actually agreed to undertake. Such a finding is required under United States v. Jenkins, supra, where, as here, a district court must consider relevant conduct under Sec. 1B1.3 to arrive at a base offense level. On remand, the district court made specific findings that Pennell actually agreed to undertake the full scope of Galbraith's activities and resentenced him based upon an LSD drug quantity of 3,391 doses. 17 Pennell's first argument on appeal is that the district court was unduly prejudiced from all the knowledge it had gained from the government's constant mentioning of evidence given pursuant to a proffer agreement. This contention is not borne out by the record however. When counsel for Pennell objected to government counsel's reference, the district court conducted an inquiry and determined that the information obtained pursuant to the proffer should be excluded for the purpose of making its Jenkins finding. In fact, the record shows that throughout the resentencing proceeding the district court reminded government's counsel to limit argument to non-proffer material. The record further indicates that the proffer evidence was ultimately excluded from the drug amount computations upon which Pennell's resentencing was based. 18 Pennell also argues that the district court resentenced him based upon the wrong offense level. The crux of his argument is that the district court erred in assigning him responsibility for 3,391 doses of LSD. We review for clear error a district court's conclusion regarding the quantity of drugs involved for sentencing purposes. United States v. Walton, 908 F.2d 1289, 1300-01 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 906 (1990). 19 We conclude that the district court did not clearly err when it determined that Pennell was responsible for 3,391 doses of LSD, for the simple reason that the drug summary tables prepared for each defendant indicate that the drug conspiracy headed by Tim Galbraith was responsible for at least 3,391 doses. As Galbraith's assistant, Pennell, too, is responsible for at least the same amount. 20 Nonetheless, Pennell's sentence must be remanded due to a mathematical error contained in his presentence report. At oral argument, counsel for both parties acknowledged that the presentence report incorrectly states that 3,391 doses multiplied by 0.4 milligrams is 13.56 grams. The correct result is 1.356 grams. Consequently, Pennell was held responsible for a greater quantity of drugs under Amendment 488 than he would be otherwise. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3742(f)(1) provides, If the court of appeals determines that the sentence was imposed ... as a result of an incorrect application of the sentencing guidelines, the court shall remand the case for further sentencing proceedings.... We therefore must remand Pennell's sentence to be recomputed. In so doing, we decline Pennell's request to reassign his case to another district court judge for resentencing. 21 The sentence of Victor Pennell is vacated and remanded to the district court for resentencing.