Opinion ID: 3000623
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Reliability of the Evidence Used in Sentencing

Text: Defendants McCoy and Artley first argue that the district court erred by relying on speculative and unreliable hearsay statements contained in the PSR in calculating the amount of cocaine attributed to them as relevant conduct for sentencing purposes. We review a district court’s findings of relevant conduct, drug quantity, and role in the offense for clear error. United States v. Ngatia, 477 F.3d 496, 500 (7th Cir. 2007). We will affirm the district court’s decision unless, after considering all of the evidence, we are left with a “definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” United States v. Romero, 469 F.3d 1139, 1147 (7th Cir. 2006) (citing United States v. Bennett, 461 F.3d 910, 912 (7th Cir. 2006). 10 Nos. 05-2127 & 05-2220 Although “a defendant has a due process right to be sentenced on the basis of accurate information . . . the evidentiary standards that apply at sentencing are not as stringent as those applicable in a criminal trial.” United States v. Taylor, 72 F.3d 533, 543 (7th Cir. 1995) (citation omitted). The government is required to prove the amount of drugs attributable to a defendant by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Porter, 23 F.3d 1274, 1277 (7th Cir. 1994). The sentencing guidelines require judges to limit consideration to information that has a “sufficient indicia of reliability to support its probable accuracy.” See U.S.S.G. § 6A1.3(a). A district court may rely on the PSR in ruling on factual issues in the sentencing context as long as the PSR is based upon sufficiently reliable information. Romero, 469 F.3d at 1147 (citing United States v. Willis, 300 F.3d 803, 807 (7th Cir. 2002). When the court relies on information contained in the PSR at sentencing, it is the defendant’s burden to show that the PSR is inaccurate or unreliable. Id. (citing United States v. Salinas, 365 F.3d 582, 587 (7th Cir. 2004)). “When a defendant has failed to produce any evidence calling the report’s accuracy into question, a district court may rely entirely on the PSR.” Taylor, 72 F.3d at 543. McCoy argues that several statements relied on by the district court are presumptively unreliable because they were given with government involvement, described past events, and were not subject to adversarial testing. Specifically, he argues that the district court should not have relied on the statements taken from Franklin, Hagberg, McCarroll, and Verriden because their statements described drug activity that took place years before they provided their statements. The volume and consistency of these statements, however, refute his challenge to their reliability. The statements relied on by the district court are consistent and corroborated: they discuss Nos. 05-2127 & 05-2220 11 the same locations where drugs were being sold, offer similar amounts of drugs being distributed, and involve the same people as participants in McCoy’s drug-trafficking operation.3 When addressing whether two or more offenses are part of the same course of conduct, a district court must examine whether the government has established a similarity, regularity, and temporal proximity between the uncharged acts and offense of conviction. See United States v. Acosta, 85 F.3d 275, 281 (7th Cir. 1996). In this case, the district court did not explain how these three factors supported a finding that McCoy’s previous drug activity was part of the same course of conduct charged in the indictment. Nevertheless, any error was harmless. Though the PSR suggests that McCoy’s drug dealing may have occurred during two distinct time periods—1999 to early 2001 and late 2002 to 2004—the district court found that the amount of drugs involved in the second period of drug dealing, which was undoubtedly part of the same course of conduct alleged in the indictment, well exceeded the fifteen kilograms of cocaine necessary to place McCoy in the requisite base offense level. Indeed, the PSR stated, and the district court accepted, that McCoy sold seven to ten kilograms of cocaine to Smith between September 2003 and December 2003; one to two kilograms of cocaine to a confidential informant between the fall of 2002 and March of 2004; and four ounces of crack (the equivalent of 3 McCoy claims that he and Artley were the only members of the conspiracy. He argues that the district court erred in finding that he was the leader/organizer of a conspiracy involving five or more participants. We disagree. The PSR statements adopted by the district court confirm that at least five individuals— Verriden, Whitfield, Savage, Smith, and Artley—sold drugs for McCoy between late 2002 and 2004. 12 Nos. 05-2127 & 05-2220 eleven kilograms of cocaine powder for Guidelines purposes) to a second confidential informant in 2004. Artley argues that the district court did not resolve his objections to the PSR prior to determining his relevant conduct. We disagree. The addendum to the PSR ade- quately addressed and clarified Artley’s objections to the statements made by William McCoy, Verriden, and Smith. Again, their statements are consistent and corroborating in that they all agree that Artley and McCoy sold cocaine out of Artley’s residence on Fish Hatchery Road. Like McCoy, Artley provided no evidence to challenge the factual accuracy of his PSR; nor did he call any witnesses to rebut any of the evidence offered against him. Artley also contends that the district court did not inquire into the scope of his joint undertaking with McCoy, the agreements they made, or the foreseeability of any particular drug quantity in determining his relevant conduct. In determining relevant conduct under the guidelines, a defendant engaged in a jointly undertaken criminal activity is liable for all reasonably foreseeable acts performed in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal act. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 (2004). In drug distribution cases, courts are instructed to calculate guideline ranges based not only on the charged drug amounts but also on the uncharged amounts “that were part of the same course of conduct or common scheme or plan as the offense of conviction.” United States v. Bullock, 454 F.3d 637, 641 (7th Cir. 2006). After determining which witness statements were reliable, the district court found that Artley worked with or for Jerry McCoy when he was not incarcerated; Artley’s residence was used by Jerry McCoy and others to distribute cocaine; Artley observed a significant amount of cocaine flow out of his residence in full view; and Artley was a part of these sales. In reviewing these factual Nos. 05-2127 & 05-2220 13 findings of the district court, we are not left with a “definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.” See Romero, 469 F.3d at 1147. Artley admitted that he was aware that McCoy used his apartment to distribute drugs. The four controlled buys demonstrated that Artley sold cocaine with McCoy. The statements of William McCoy, Verriden, and Smith all confirmed that McCoy and Artley sold drugs together out of Artley’s apartment. Based upon the quantities of cocaine that McCoy and Artley were distributing, it was reasonably foreseeable that McCoy would have cocaine in his possession in Artley’s residence the night of the shooting.4 Also, based on William McCoy’s and Jerry McCoy’s statements to the police following the shooting, it is likely that the kilogram of cocaine recovered by police outside of Artley’s apartment came from Artley’s apartment. Considering only the 193.93 grams and one kilogram of cocaine recovered by the police, Artley’s relevant conduct is well within the district court’s finding that his relevant conduct involved at least 500 grams but less than 2 kilograms of cocaine. Thus, the district court did not err in determining Artley’s relevant conduct or drug quantity.5 4 Both William McCoy and Jerry McCoy confirmed that a large amount of cocaine was present in Artley’s apartment on the evening of July 26, 2003. They merely dispute its ownership. Because the McCoy brothers corroborate its existence, it is reasonable to conclude that Artley also knew about this cocaine. 5 McCoy challenges his two-level weapons enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b) for the first time on appeal. “Section 1B1.3(a)(1)(B) makes clear that defendants can also be on the hook for firearms possessed by their coconspirators so long as such possession was reasonably foreseeable.” United States v. Luster, 480 F.3d 551, 558 (7th Cir. 2007). The record established (continued...) 14 Nos. 05-2127 & 05-2220