Opinion ID: 686809
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: cole

Text: 5 Cole pleaded guilty to money laundering to promote an unlawful activity through interstate commerce, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Secs. 1956(a)(1)(A)(i) and 2. At sentencing, Cole argued he was a minimal participant in the conspiracy and thus was entitled to a 4-level reduction in his offense level pursuant to U.S.S.G. Sec. 3B1.2. He argued that other defendants (such as Copeland) who were listed as equally culpable to him had been held responsible for much larger amounts of crack cocaine. The district court determined that Cole's participation was substantially more aggravated in the overall scheme and denied the reduction. The district court sentenced Cole to 92 months imprisonment and 2 years supervised release. 6 We review the sentencing court's factual determination of a participant's role for clear error. United States v. Lucht, 18 F.3d 541, 555 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 363, 130 L.Ed.2d 316 (1994). Although Cole argues he was a minor or minimal participant given the conspiracy's scope, his offense level was calculated based only on the money-laundering conduct to which he pleaded guilty. He cannot have both the benefit of the smaller immediate offense in calculating his base offense level and the benefit of the larger conspiracy in determining his role. Id. at 556. In addition, we conclude the district court did not clearly err in finding that Cole's numerous wire transactions involving drug proceeds showed more substantial involvement than did Coleman's one-time service as a money transporter's bodyguard.