Opinion ID: 796361
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Judon

Text: 40 Judon also challenges the district court's drug quantity findings. The court attributed a total of 19.53 grams of crack cocaine to him. In reaching this amount, the district court found Judon responsible for two sales of crack cocaine to Davis Jr.: 2.28 grams on October 22, 2004 and 2.25 grams on October 26, 2004. The district court next attributed an additional five grams of crack cocaine to Judon on the conspiracy charge, even though the jury specifically found Judon responsible for less than five grams of crack cocaine in the conspiracy. Because a district court makes drug quantity findings using a preponderance of the evidence standard when applying the sentencing guidelines, it is not bound by the jury's quantity findings. See United States v. McKay, 431 F.3d 1085, 1094 (8th Cir.2005), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 2345, 164 L.Ed.2d 859 (2006), and ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 46, 166 L.Ed.2d 48 (2006). The district court then found Judon responsible for an additional ten grams of crack cocaine. Davis Jr. testified that before he began making controlled purchases in cooperation with the task force, he purchased crack cocaine from Judon on approximately ten occasions. On each occasion, he purchased anywhere from one gram up to an eighth of an ounce (3.54 grams) of cocaine. Judon argues that the district court's finding of the ten additional grams of crack cocaine was based on Davis Sr.'s testimony. The sentencing transcript is ambiguous about whose testimony the district court was actually crediting in attributing the additional ten grams of crack cocaine to Judon, but it is clear that Davis Jr.'s testimony in fact supports this finding. The finding itself therefore was not clearly erroneous. See Roach, 164 F.3d at 413-14. 41 Judon also argues that the district court double-counted by attributing to him the 2.28 and 2.25 grams from the October transactions as well as the five grams on the conspiracy count. Even if we agreed, such an error would be harmless because removing the additional five grams from the total of 19.53 grams of crack cocaine attributed to Judon would not change Judon's ultimate advisory guidelines range. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(7) (correlating a base offense level of 26 to at least five grams but less than 20 grams of cocaine base). On this issue, there is no prejudicial error in the district court's drug quantity findings for Judon.