Opinion ID: 778658
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Challenges to the evidence supporting the cause of death findings for sentencing purposes

Text: 110 Several of the defendants raise challenges to the sufficiency or propriety of the evidence supporting the district court's cause of death findings for purposes of sentencing the defendants. We address these arguments in turn.
111 Alfonzo Meza argues that, even under a preponderance standard, the government's proof at the cause of death hearing failed to establish that the individuals' deaths, as charged in Counts 6, 12, and 27 of the indictment, were caused by the use of heroin. Thus, he contends that the district court erred in enhancing his sentence under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(a)(2). 112 Alfonzo Meza argues that the government admits that neither Rob Hill (Count 12) nor Erin Baker (Count 27) died from heroin overdoses but rather from an asthma attack (Hill) and a pulmonary embolism (Baker). Alfonzo Meza observes that the government's expert witness testified that heroin caused Hill's asthma attack but that a combination of heroin, cocaine and diphenhydramine caused Baker's embolism. He asserts that, because these opinions were not supported by a competent medical or scientific study, case report, or other evidence indicating that heroin can cause asthma attacks or blood clots, the government did not provide competent and trustworthy expert evidence to show a link between heroin and Hill's and Baker's deaths. Alfonzo Meza further argues that the evidence is insufficient to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Milan Malina (Count 6) died from a heroin overdose because it is equally probable he died from a cocaine overdose but cocaine was not charged in Count 6 or discussed in the presentence report (PSR). 113 Because we have determined that the defendants waived any right they had to have the cause of death issue as to Counts 1, 6, 9, 12, and 27 resolved as a matter of guilt or innocence by a jury by proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the district court's cause of death findings were only required to be made by a preponderance of the evidence to support an enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(a)(2) based upon the usual rules governing a court's factual findings for sentencing purposes. 121 We review the district court's factual findings for clear error only, and, in making its findings, the district court may consider any information which bears sufficient indicia of reliability to support its probable accuracy, including hearsay evidence, without regard to admissibility under the Federal Rules of Evidence which govern at trial. 122 The district court's findings are not clearly erroneous if they are plausible in light of the record reviewed in its entirety. 123 114 At sentencing, the defendant bears the burden of rebutting the evidence used against him for purposes of sentencing by proving that it is materially untrue, inaccurate or unreliable. 124 Mere objections do not suffice as competent rebuttal evidence. 125 115 Alfonzo Meza does not deny that he supplied the heroin alleged in Counts 6, 12, and 27, only that the heroin caused the respective users' deaths. We have recently held that § 2D1.1(a)(2) is a strict liability provision and does not require proof of proximate causation or reasonable foreseeability such that a defendant can be held responsible for overdose deaths if the government could show a reasonable medical probability that heroin supplied by [the defendant] caused the deaths. 126 116 Dr. William Rohr, the medical examiner who performed the autopsies of Malina and Hill, testified that there was a reasonable medical probability that the heroin used by Hill and Malina proximately caused their deaths, and the defendants offered no evidence to refute this expert testimony. Dr. Mark Andrew Krause, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy of Baker, testified that there was a reasonable medical probability that heroin and cocaine, in some combination, caused Baker's death, i.e., that it is more likely than not that Baker would not have died had she not ingested the cocaine and heroin, even though the proximate cause of death was the pulmonary embolism. 117 Alfonzo Meza essentially attempts to argue a standard which we have already rejected for purposes of sentencing under section 2D1.1(a)(2), that the drugs supplied by the defendant must be `a direct cause of death, not a possible or remote cause.' 127 Although Dr. Krause stated that he could not say that the heroin Baker ingested alone caused her death, his testimony that the heroin and cocaine in combination contributed to or caused Baker's death is sufficient to support the district court's finding that cocaine and heroin together caused the death of Baker. 128 Again, the defendants offered no rebuttal evidence to the contrary. 118 Accordingly, based on our review of the record, we conclude that the district court did not clearly err in finding that heroin caused the deaths of Hill and Malina and that cocaine and heroin together caused the death of Baker, such that Alfonzo Meza was properly sentenced on the basis of these users' deaths pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(a)(2).
119 Arturo Meza argues that the district court erred in admitting evidence offered by the government at the cause of death hearing of cocaine allegedly supplied by the defendants in connection with the death of Erin Baker as alleged in Count 27. He contends that this was error because it differed from the factual basis offered for Baker's death in the PSR, to which the government did not object, and that the government therefore waived any error arising from discrepancies on this point in the PSR. 120 We review challenges to the admission of evidence for abuse of discretion only, subject to a harmless error analysis. 129 We have held that the government waived any error as to discrepancies in the findings in a PSR regarding drug quantity and equivalencies, which the district court had accepted in making its calculations, by failing to object to the findings in the PSR before the district court. 130 Arturo Meza offers a unique spin on this holding, arguing that the district court erred in allowing the government to offer evidence that Erin Baker died from cocaine or heroin when the PSR provides only that her death resulted from heroin use and the government offered no objection to this finding in the PSR. 131 121 The district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the government to present evidence in support of findings beyond those contained in the PSR. Although it is well-settled that a district court may adopt the facts contained in a PSR without further inquiry if those facts have an adequate evidentiary basis with sufficient indicia of reliability and the defendant does not present rebuttal evidence or otherwise demonstrate that the information in the PSR is unreliable, 132 the district court is not limited at sentencing to the findings in the PSR and the evidentiary bases therefor. The authority upon which Arturo Meza relies is inapposite, holding that the government waives its right to challenge on appeal the district court's findings where the district court adopted the findings of the PSR and the government failed to object to the relevant findings in the PSR in the district court. 133 122 Moreover, the district court provided the defendants with time in the course of the hearing to prepare to challenge the government's evidence regarding cocaine distribution and use once the government indicated its intention to present this evidence following Dr. Krause's testimony that Baker's death was caused by the ingestion of a combination of cocaine and heroin. Under these circumstances, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence at the cause of death hearing that the defendants supplied cocaine which caused Baker's death.
123 Pineda argues that the district court erred in denying his objection to the portions of the PSR in which his base offense level was calculated to be 38 pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(a)(2). He contends that he was not involved with the deaths of Milan Malina (Count 6), George Wesley Scott (Count 9), Rob Hill (Count 12), or Erin Baker (Count 27) or the serious bodily injury to Daniel Mierek (Count 16). Pineda argues that the government presented no evidence that he was involved in the conspiracy at the time the deaths of Malina, Scott, and Hill occurred. He also asserts, without supporting argument, that the government presented insufficient evidence of causation regarding the deaths of Malina, Hill, Scott, and Baker and the injury to Mierek. 124 We have already determined that there was insufficient evidence to convict Pineda of Counts 6 and 9, and, although acquittal is not a barrier to consideration of the underlying conduct at sentencing so long as that conduct was proven by a preponderance of the evidence, 134 under the circumstances presented here, Pineda's involvement in the conspiracy prior to August 1997 was not even proven measured against this lower standard. As to the death of Hill (Count 12) and Baker (Count 27), however, Pineda has shown no clear error in the district court's finding that Pineda was criminally responsible for the drugs which resulted in these users' deaths. We have found, based on a reasonable doubt standard, that there was sufficient evidence to convict Pineda based on Pinkerton liability on Counts 12 and 27, and there is likewise sufficient evidence in the record on which to sentence Pineda for his involvement in the conspiracy which resulted in these users' deaths. 135 Moreover, based on the discussion above as to Alfonzo Meza's challenges to his sentences and our conclusion that sufficient evidence exists in the record to support Pineda's convictions on Counts 12 and 27 on the basis of Pinkerton liability, we conclude that the district court did not clearly err in finding by a preponderance of the evidence that the drugs charged in the respective counts caused the deaths of Hill and Baker. 136
125 Mendez argues that there is insufficient evidence to tie him to a cocaine conspiracy and so insufficient evidence to sentence him for the deaths of victims alleged in Counts 6, 9, 12, and 27, particularly Baker's death alleged in Count 27. Mendez also argues that the district court erred in allowing the admission through a government witness of the inherently unreliable, redacted statements of Jose Meza in violation of Mendez's Fifth Amendment rights as developed in Bruton. Based on our rejection of Mendez's challenges to his convictions on these same grounds, we reject his points of error.