Opinion ID: 786989
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Rivera's Conviction and Sentence

Text: 3 Rivera was charged in a June 1990 superseding indictment (indictment) in a total of 14 counts relating to his alleged leadership of the narcotics distribution organization. Count One alleged that, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, Rivera had participated in a conspiracy to distribute more than one kilogram of heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 812, 841(a)(1), and 841(b)(1)(A), and that the conspiracy had begun in or about April 1987 and had continued to the date of the indictment. Count Fourteen alleged that Rivera had attempted to evade income tax on substantial income received in 1988, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. At trial, the jury, although unable to reach verdicts on the other counts, returned verdicts of guilty on Count One, finding that the conspiracy involved one kilogram or more of heroin, and Count Fourteen. 4 The United States Sentencing Guidelines (Guidelines) had become effective on November 1, 1987. The district court found that a preponderance of the evidence presented at Rivera's trial, including his organization's own records, established that the conspiracy had been in existence from September 1987 until Rivera's arrest in May 1989. Straddle crimes, i.e., continuing offenses that began before the effective date of the Guidelines and continued after that date, are subject to the Guidelines. See, e.g., United States v. Story, 891 F.2d 988, 993-96 (2d Cir.1989). Accordingly, the presentence report on Rivera (PSR) calculated his recommended narcotics conspiracy sentence, as well as his recommended tax evasion sentence, under the Guidelines. The PSR calculated that more than 100 kilograms of heroin were involved in the conspiracy and that that quantity, along with other Guidelines adjustments, made Rivera's total offense level 44. Given Rivera's criminal history category of I, the Guidelines-recommended sentence was life imprisonment. Rivera did not contend that the Guidelines were inapplicable to his offenses but only that, for various reasons, a lower Guidelines range than that recommended by the PSR was appropriate. 5 The district court, in calculating Rivera's offense level under the Guidelines, found by a preponderance of the trial evidence that, from September 1987 to May 1989, the total quantity of heroin involved in the conspiracy exceeded 100 kilograms. Accepting the PSR recommendations, the court sentenced Rivera on April 24, 1991, principally to life imprisonment (without possibility of parole), to be followed by a five-year term of supervised release. 6 On his direct appeal, Rivera made various challenges to his conviction, complaining of the prosecutor's summation and several evidentiary and procedural rulings by the trial court. See Rivera I, 971 F.2d at 882. He did not challenge his sentence or contend that he should not have been sentenced under the Guidelines.