Opinion ID: 700870
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: attribution of drug quantities

Text: 13 At sentencing, the district court found that Ambursley should be held accountable for at least 500 grams, but less than 1.5 kilograms, of cocaine base (crack cocaine). The defense contends that Ambursley should be held accountable only for the 21.7 grams of cocaine base found in the car at the time of his arrest with Marcus Downs on March 6, 1992--that is, the drugs at issue in the substantive count for which Ambursley was found not guilty. We believe that the record supports the district court's finding of fact. 14 At trial, Downs and Murchison both stated that Ambursley assisted with the procurement of powder cocaine on at least two trips to Miami and one to New York. According to their testimony, each trip involved the purchase of a kilogram of powder cocaine. The district court apparently found that Ambursley's involvement in one of those trips had been proven by a preponderance of the evidence. We detect no basis in the record to second-guess that finding. In addition, the scope of the conspiracy testified to by Downs and Murchison clearly embraced the conversion of the powder cocaine into crack cocaine to be sold on the street. Testimony at trial indicated that the conversion, or cooking, process produced approximately 13 grams of crack cocaine for every 14 grams of powder cocaine cooked. Thus, we find no error in the district court's attribution to Ambursley of between 0.5 and 1.5 kilograms of crack cocaine, rather than one kilogram of powder cocaine. 15 In denying the objection to the drug quantities outlined in the Probation Office's Presentence Investigation Report, the district court also apparently found by a preponderance of the evidence that Ambursley should be held accountable for the 21.7 grams of crack cocaine found in Downs's car on March 6, 1992, and for another 76.8 grams of crack cocaine distributed by Ambursley's co-conspirators. Though we note that the attribution of these amounts, totalling 0.0985 kilograms, generates no increase in Ambursley's offense level, we find that the record amply supports the district court's finding.