Opinion ID: 770533
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Attribution of 1400 Pounds of Marijuana

Text: 38 Solis next argues that the district court erred in attributing 1400 pounds of marijuana to him in calculating his sentence. We review a district court's drug quantity determination for clear error. See Owusu, 199 F.3d at 338. The government must prove the amount to be attributed to a defendant by a preponderance of the evidence. See United States v. Walton, 908 F.2d 1289, 1302 (6th Cir. 1990). Testimonial evidence from a coconspirator may be sufficient to determine the amount of drugs for which another coconspirator should be held accountable. See UnitedStates v. Pruitt, 156 F.3d 638, 647 (6th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1091 (1999), and cert. denied, 526 U.S. 1012 (1999). 39 Two presentence reports were prepared for Oscar Solis. The first report was prepared in 1990. The presentence report noted that informant Walden stated that codefendant Reyna told him that during the conspiracy the Solis brothers were shipping 500 pounds of marijuana per month to Saginaw, and that this had been continuing for the past eight years. Walden also stated that Reyna told him that the Solis brothers also used other couriers to make their marijuana deliveries. Based upon Walden's statements, the presentence report concluded that during the course of the eight year conspiracy, the defendant sold 48,000 pounds of marijuana, placing his base offense level at 36. The presentence report also recommended that Solis be assessed 4 points pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a) for being an organizer or leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants. 40 A second presentence report was prepared in 1999. It noted that at the time Solis' co-defendants were sentenced, the district court, on the basis of testimony at trial, had ruled that the conspiracy involved 1400 pounds of marijuana for purposes of relevant conduct. Therefore, the presentence report recommended that Solis be held accountable for 1400 pounds of marijuana, for a base offense level of 28. 41 At Oscar Solis' sentencing the trial judge stated: 42 I find that the quantity involved was 1400 pounds of marijuana. That was the quantity found with his codefendants, and I don't see the need to go through an evidentiary hearing. That was determined on the record previously, and I am satisfied that that's the amount that should be ascribed to him. 43 The quantity of drugs ascribed to Oscar Solis' coconspirators is relevant, but not sufficient by itself to support his sentence. Here, however, direct attribution of the quantities attributed to the coconspirators to Solis is not a problem. There is sufficient evidence in the trial record to support the trial court's determination that Solis was a leader in this drug conspiracy. There is evidence that he was involved in shipping the marijuana, overseeing its distribution, and collecting the profits. Indeed, both Solis brothers were already deeply involved in an ongoing marijuana operation when Walden became involved in the organization in 1988. The Sentencing Guidelines provide that the defendant's relevant conduct, in the case of a jointly undertaken criminal activity, includes all reasonably foreseeable acts and omissions of others in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal activity that occurred during the commission of the offense of conviction. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3. A preponderance of evidence supports the district court's finding that Oscar Solis should at a minimum be held responsible for the same quantity of drugs that was attributed to the others in the conspiracy. 44 In so doing, we acknowledge that even if Oscar Solis is properly attributed the same quantity of drugs attributable to his codefendants, this does not obviate the trial court's duty to support its finding that the total quantity involved in the conspiracy was at least 1400 pounds. 45 The only precise evidence we have on how the trial court originally arrived at the 1400 figure comes in directly from Rey Solis' judgment of sentence which includes the following attachment suggesting that factual findings were made on the record: 46 There was disagreement at sentencing as to the amount of marihuana involved in the conspiracy for which defendant was convicted. The Court, on the basis of testimony at trial, determined that an accomplice made 7 trips to Saginaw, Michigan from the Rio Grande Valley and delivered 200 pounds on each trip. Therefore, 1,400 pounds of marihuana was involved in the conspiracy and thatamount should be used in determining relevant conduct. 47 In review on appeal we may consult the entire record. A reviewing bench should sustain a sentencing court's factual finding if it was supported by 'some minimum indicium of reliability beyond mere allegation.' Dunlap, 209 F.3d 476, n.8 (quoting United States v. Robison, 904 F.2d 365, 371 (6th Cir. 1990) (citations omitted)). If the exact amount of drugs involved is uncertain, the court may make an estimate supported by competent evidence in the record. Owusu, 199 F.3d at 338. Furthermore, both sentencing and reviewing courts may consider relevant information which is prohibited from being introduced into evidence at trial in determining a defendant's sentence. See United States v. Charles, 138 F.3d 257, 267 (6th Cir. 1998). Approximations are completely appropriate. United States v. Maliszewski, 161 F.3d 992, 1027 (6th Cir. 1998). District courts may approximate the quantity of drugs for sentencing purposes based upon circumstantial evidence as long as they err on the side of caution. See United States v. Elder, 90 F.3d 1110, 1127 (6th Cir. 1996). 48 Walden's trips were not the only evidence available to the trial court. There was admissible testimony from Walden that Solis had been involved in the conspiracy for eight years, that other couriers had been used, and that monthly quantities exceeded 500 pounds. There was also a narcotics record book that showed large quantities of money going back to Texas. Finally, the court had before it evidence that while still at large following his trial in the instant case, Solis had been apprehended during a drug bust in Cameron County, Texas for which he had been sentenced on September 17, 1998, to 18 months for possession with intent to distribute 33 kilograms of marijuana, the amount involved there being approximately 72 pounds. Given this evidence, we believe the total quantity of marijuana attributed by the court to the original coconspirators is supportable and probably conservative. 49 Solis misapprehends the range and nature of fact-finding responsibilities of the trial court in cases such as this one, especially when the defendant was a leader of a drug distribution conspiracy. The district judge was in no way limited to the 641 pounds which only defined Walden's immediate involvement. Indeed, it could reasonably have chosen an amount substantially larger than that upon which it settled without committing clear error. The wide and varied scope of the other evidence before the trial judge, including evidence of an ongoing conspiratorial activity even before Walden's involvement, is fully convincing that the amount settled upon by the trial judge was well within the permissible range of his fact finding discretion.