Opinion ID: 777439
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: the increase based on the leader/organizer finding

Text: 21 Nobelda and Leda also argue that the district court erroneously denied their objections to the PSRs' findings that they had leader or organizer roles in the conspiracy. Subsection 3B1.1(a) of the Sentencing Guidelines instructs the sentencing court that [i]f the defendant was an organizer or leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was otherwise extensive, increase by 4 levels. U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 3B1.1(a) (2000). The district court's determination that a defendant was a leader or organizer under subsection 3B1.1(a) is a factual finding that this court reviews for clear error. United States v. Ayala, 47 F.3d 688, 689-90 (5th Cir.1995). 22 The probation officer based the recommended leader/organizer increase in offense level primarily on the findings that Nobelda and Leda were responsible for supplying young children to accompany illegal immigrants across the border and that they supplied these children by recruiting and paying the children's parents and then taking the children to Mexico from Houston. The PSR also stated that Nobelda and Leda recruited their co-defendant Jose Antonio Guerrero-Funez and directed his actions in allegedly collecting the smuggling fees and helping to transport immigrants. As further evidence supporting the conclusion that Leda was a leader/organizer, the PSR pointed to airline records for the relevant time period indicating that Leda had traveled from Houston to Harlingen, Texas numerous times with an infant on her lap and had returned to Houston without an infant. 11 23 In the district court, Nobelda argued that although she had enlisted the help of others during the course of the scheme, it was improper to characterize her as a leader or organizer because there was no evidence that she exercised control or authority over anyone else involved in the offense. At most, Nobelda maintained, the evidence established that she had acted as a manager or supervisor, which warrants an offense-level increase of only three under the Sentencing Guidelines. See U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 3B1.1(b) (2000). Leda similarly argued that she was not an organizer or leader because there was no evidence that she had control or authority over the actions of others. Leda further asserted that there is reason to believe that her role was actually minimal. Specifically, she pointed out that the INS discovered during its investigation that Nobelda used Leda's name in much of the carrying out [of] the details of the conspiracy. Consequently, Leda maintained, it was improper to assume that she had been the Leda Cabrera listed in the airline records. Agreeing with the government that the preponderance of the evidence indicated that both Nobelda and Leda had acted as leaders or organizers, the district court adopted the PSRs' findings and applied the four-level increase pursuant to subsection 3B1.1(a). 24 As noted above, a district court may adopt the facts contained in a PSR without further inquiry if those facts have an adequate evidentiary basis with sufficient indicia of reliability and the defendant does not present rebuttal evidence or otherwise demonstrate that the information in the PSR is unreliable. See Rome, 207 F.3d at 254. Nobelda and Leda did not offer evidence to rebut the leader/organizer findings in the PSRs, but rather contend that there is insufficient evidence to support those findings. Nobelda and Leda do not dispute the finding that they recruited and paid parents to obtain children for use in the smuggling operation, instead arguing that these actions amounted to no more than [m]erely tending to simple logistics and thus cannot support the district court's application of subsection 3B1.1(a). 12 Quoting from the Ninth Circuit's opinion in United States v. Harper, 33 F.3d 1143 (9th Cir.1994), Nobelda and Leda maintain that a leader/organizer increase is warranted under subsection 3B1.1(a) only if the government shows that the defendant exercised some control over others involved in commission of the offense [or was] responsible for organizing others for the purpose of carrying out the crime. Id. at 1151 (internal quotations omitted) (alteration in original). 25 The commentary to section 3B1.1 sets out an array of factors that the sentencing court should consider [i]n distinguishing a leadership and organizational role (requiring a four-level increase) from one of mere management or supervision (requiring a three-level increase): 26 the exercise of decision making authority, the nature of participation in the commission of the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a larger share of the fruits of the crime, the degree of participation in planning or organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority exercised over others. 27 U.S. SENTENCING GUIDELINES MANUAL § 3B1.1 cmt. n. 4 (2000). The district court may find that a defendant exercised a leader/organizer role by inference from the available facts. See Ayala, 47 F.3d at 690. In light of the factors enumerated in section 3B1.1's commentary, the evidence cited in Nobelda and Leda's PSRs provides an adequate basis for the inference that Nobelda and Leda were leaders or organizers. The PSR describes interviews conducted by INS agents in which the parents identified Nobelda and Leda and stated that they had offered the parents money in exchange for the use of their children. One of these parents stated that she had been told by Nobelda that a flight to Harlingen would be part of the child's trip to Matamoros, and that the child would return to the United States with illegal immigrants. The finding that Nobelda and Leda were responsible for bringing the children to Mexico is corroborated by the airline records containing Leda's name and the evidence (also cited in the PSR) that the flights from Houston to Harlingen were confirmed from Leda's telephone number. The PSR also relied on information obtained from an INS interview of Jose Antonio Guerrero-Funez, who made smuggling arrangements with immigrants in Mexico. According to the agents, Guerrero-Funez told them that Nobelda and Leda recruited him and directed him in his smuggling activities in Mexico. 28 The foregoing information, indicating that Nobelda and Leda were in charge of supplying children for use in the smuggling operation, that they recruited accomplices, and that they organized others in carrying out the crime, adequately supports the PSRs' findings that they were leaders or organizers. Further, this information, having been derived primarily from the INS's report on its investigation and having been confirmed by Paredes in his testimony at the sentencing hearing, bears sufficient indicia of reliability. 13 Accordingly, in the absence of rebuttal evidence, the district court did not clearly err by adopting the PSRs' findings that Nobelda and Leda were leaders or organizers. 29