Opinion ID: 752489
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The 2,401 gram mixture.

Text: 22 Brinton argues that the 2,401 grams of material (the processed portion of the 25-pound mixture seized from the industrial complex), necessarily found by the jury to contain at least some amount of methamphetamine, should not be counted in calculating the offense level because the mixture was nothing more than unmarketable waste product. At the sentencing hearing, Brinton presented a declaration from a chemist stating that the methamphetamine content of samples from the mixture was only 15-32%, and that the material was unmarketable and probably too dangerous for human consumption. The PSR, pursuant to a Government report, argued that the mixture was 50% methamphetamine. The district court adopted the PSR's 50% methamphetamine figure, believing the drug quantities were necessarily determined by the jury verdict. 23
24 Brinton's argument that the methamphetamine in the mixture could not be counted, due to its unmarketability, is simply incorrect. The marketability of the methamphetamine is not an element of the crime. The applicable sentencing guidelines refer to any mixture of a compound [that] contains any detectable amount of a controlled substance. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, comment. (n.1) (1988) (emphasis added). The mixture in this case averaged at least 15% methamphetamine-certainly a detectable amount. The fact that the mixture was unmarketable due to toxic contaminants does not require that the entire mixture be ignored for sentencing purposes. See United States v. Innie, 7 F.3d 840, 845 (9th Cir.1993) (Innie I ); United States v. Beltran-Felix, 934 F.2d 1075, 1076 (9th Cir.1991). 25
26 Previously, we have used the entire weight of a mixture to determine the appropriate sentence. See Innie I, 7 F.3d at 845; Beltran-Felix, 934 F.2d at 1076. However, in 1993, application note 1 to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 was amended to further define mixture or substance. Under the 1993 amendment, [m]ixture or substance does not include materials that must be separated from the controlled substance before the controlled substance can be used. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, comment. (n.1) (1995). We have held that the 1993 amendment to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 merely clarified the existing guideline rule and so applies retroactively. United States v. Innie, 77 F.3d 1207, 1209 (9th Cir.1996) (Innie II ). 27 If the sentencing court finds that the material seized was in a distributable form, the entire weight counts at sentencing. If, however, the material required further processing prior to distribution, only the weight of the pure drug is included. Id. (applying the 1993 amendment to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 and ruling that only the average of the mixture that was usable methamphetamine should be used in calculating defendant's sentence). 28 The Supreme Court's holdings in Neal v. United States, 516 U.S. 284, 116 S.Ct. 763, 133 L.Ed.2d 709 (1996), and Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453, 111 S.Ct. 1919, 114 L.Ed.2d 524 (1991), are not to the contrary. Both Neal and Chapman dealt with LSD and whether the weight of the blotter paper used to hold the drug should be included in the weight used at sentencing. Both cases held that it should, but noted that LSD is normally distributed after dilution by some form of inert carrier. The law was designed to punish on the basis of the amount of drug distributed, rather than the amount of pure drug. Neal, 516 U.S. at 288-90, 116 S.Ct. at 766; Chapman, 500 U.S. at 461, 111 S.Ct. at 1925. Additionally, Chapman observed that the guidelines treat methamphetamine differently from LSD. Chapman, 500 U.S. at 459, 111 S.Ct. at 1924. Therefore, Chapman and Neal do not require that the entire weight of the mixture be used in establishing the sentence in Brinton's case. 29
30 The district court specifically adopted the 50% figure set forth in the PSR-a sufficient method of making the requisite factual findings. See United States v. Upshaw, 918 F.2d 789, 792 (9th Cir.1990). However, Brinton argues that this unsupported adoption of this figure was clearly erroneous. To support this position, Brinton relies on United States v. Simmons, 964 F.2d 763 (8th Cir.1992), which held that the district court could not rest its drug quantity determination on the basis of testimony that lacked sufficient indicia of reliability. 31 This argument fails. The 50% figure in the PSR was based on information obtained by the probation officer from the California Department of Justice laboratory expert assigned to the case. The court additionally had before it the declaration of the Government's expert stating that the material was 50% methamphetamine. Thus, the information came from a state laboratory expert and so had the required indicia of reliability. 32 However, it is clear from the record that the district court adopted the PSR's finding that the material was 50% methamphetamine because it erroneously believed that the jury's verdict precluded it from considering the amounts involved. Quantity is not an element of the offense of possession with intent to distribute-it becomes important only at sentencing. See Sotelo-Rivera, 931 F.2d at 1319 (Section 841(a) does not specify drug quantity as an element of the substantive offense of possession with intent to distribute; quantity is instead relevant to the penalty provisions of section 841(b), and is a matter for the district court at sentencing.). 33 Because the jury returned a general verdict, it was not required to accept the amount of drugs contained in the indictment. It only needed to find that Brinton possessed some methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Thus, the district court erred when it held that it could not consider the quantity of methamphetamine involved at sentencing. Upon remand, the sentencing judge must make a finding as to the amount of the 2,401 gram mixture attributable to pure methamphetamine. 34