Opinion ID: 714124
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Quantity of Drugs Attributable to Defendants

Text: 59 The defendants contend that the district court failed to make the specific findings required to attribute to each defendant the entirety of the 1,000 kilograms of marihuana alleged in the indictment. 24 At the Browns' sentencing hearing, counsel for Thomas Brown, Jr. objected to the findings of the Court, but failed to specify the grounds for his objection--assuming such an objection was incorporated within this general challenge--to the court's findings regarding the quantity of marihuana attributable to Thomas Brown, Jr. 60 In United States v. Clark, 67 F.3d 1154 (5th Cir.1995), petition for cert. filed, No. 95-7511 (Jan. 16, 1996), this Court observed that, under the sentencing guidelines, a defendant who participates in a drug conspiracy is accountable for the quantity of drugs that is attributable to the conspiracy and reasonably foreseeable to the individual defendant. Id. at 1164. The district court must therefore make two findings: (1) the quantity of drugs attributable to the entire conspiracy; and (2) the quantity of drugs that each defendant knew or should have known was involved in the conspiracy. See United States v. Quiroz-Hernandez, 48 F.3d 858, 870 (5th Cir.1995). 61 At the Browns' sentencing hearing, the district court held that: 62 So based on all of the evidence that I have before me and the evidence that I heard at trial, particularly the evidence that I heard at trial, and also the fact that it is obviously clear the Castillos were moving large amounts of marijuana based on the notes and the evidence that was found, and a lot of it was going up to Dayton. And so while we can't determine a precise amount, I believe it is a finding that I can make by a preponderance, based on all of the evidence that I heard, including especially the evidence at trial, that at least 1,000 kilograms made their way up to Dayton and that these defendants were involved in that amount of marijuana trafficking. 63 So that will be the finding of the Court, that each of these defendants jointed [sic] the conspiracy from the beginning as alleged in the indictment, this February 1992 date; that they were members of the conspiracy from that date through the end of the conspiracy as alleged in the indictment; that the amounts of marijuana that they were involved in was in excess of 1,000 kilograms. 64 That certainly their levels of involvement are different ... But that the amounts were within the scope, this 1,000 kilograms was within the scope of the agreements that were entered into in the conspiracy that were entered into by these defendants of which they were a part, and that these amounts were also reasonably foreseeable to these defendants without knowing the exact amounts, as they don't have to know, they knew what was going on, that they were involved in marijuana trafficking, and so the amounts were within the scope of the agreement and reasonably foreseeable to each of the defendants. 65 Similarly, at the sentencing hearing for Ysidro Castillo, David Castillo, and Gary Rhudy, the district court concluded that the quantities of marihuana recommended in the PSRs were properly attributable to these defendants as within the scope of the agreement and reasonably foreseeable to them. 25 66 At Michael Castillo's sentencing hearing, the district court concluded that Michael Castillo had been involved throughout the duration of the conspiracy, and that it was reasonably foreseeable to him--and within the scope of his agreement with the other defendants--that at least a thousand kilograms of marijuana would be trafficked by [his] family. 67 We review these findings by the district court for clear error. See United States v. Puig-Infante, 19 F.3d 929, 942 (5th Cir.1994). In making these findings, the district court expressly drew upon corroborated testimony that Ballard transported shipments of marihuana on at least eighteen occasions. Ballard further testified that these shipments averaged from 200 to 250 pounds. 26 Additionally, the government adduced considerable evidence demonstrating that each defendant was a voluntary and knowing participant in the conspiracy. 68 Furthermore, the district court's findings in the defendants' respective sentencing hearings were clearly adequate and sufficiently specific to comply with U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3. 27 Where there is no drug seizure or the amount seized does not reflect the scale of the offense ... the sentencing guidelines recognize that a district court must approximate the quantity of drugs at issue. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 comment. (n.12). In the present case, the district court set forward its computations in estimating the quantities of marihuana attributed to the conspiracy and to the individual defendants. Based on the evidence before the court, and in light of the fact that the vast majority of the marihuana involved in this conspiracy was never seized, the district court's findings of fact--estimating the quantities of drugs attributable to the individual defendants--were not clearly erroneous. 69