Opinion ID: 544309
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Upward Adjustment for Defendant's Role as Organizer

Text: 56 Next, Collins argues that the Court's upward adjustment of his offense level for his role as an organizer in the offense was error because he was the only participant in the offense. See Guidelines Sec. 3B1.1. He claims that he was the sole party involved in cultivating marijuana in his attic, and that the government did not offer evidence to the contrary. He claims it is logically inconsistent, and contrary to the Guidelines, to enhance his sentence for being his own leader. We agree that this enhancement does not apply where the defendant is the sole participant in the offense. 4 But the Court's finding that defendant acted with others, and was an organizer in the offense, is not clearly erroneous and therefore stands. In Collins's hearing the Court also specifically found that the defendant had exclusive control of the plants, decided to grow the plants and therefore was clearly the leader of the scheme to cultivate the plants. We see no error in this finding. Although the Court did not announce that the other defendants participated in the cultivation of the marijuana, it did find that the defendant's crime was not a single-person crime. T. 101. The Court had two other defendants before it at Collins's sentencing, defendants who had pleaded guilty to charges from the common indictment. Also, there is evidence that Streeter knew of the plants in Collins's home. We find no clear error in these findings, and thus the Court's application of Guidelines Sec. 3B1.1 is affirmed.