Opinion ID: 204046
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Correa-Alicea's Sentence

Text: Correa-Alicea's Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) recommended that he be held accountable for approximately six kilograms of cocaine base over a one-year period. The PSR did not explain how it reached this drug-quantity determination, but instead merely stated that the finding was based on the evidence presented at trial, and the testimony of drug expert Eddie Vidal. Correa-Alicea filed objections to the PSR, contending that the drug-quantity finding was incorrect because it was based on unreliable expert witness testimony from Agent Vidal-Gil. At the sentencing hearing, after argument from counsel on this point, the district court adopted the PSR's recommendation and found that Correa-Alicea was responsible for in excess of 4.5 kilograms of crack cocaine. Like the PSR, the district court did not explain how it reached its drug-quantity determination, but instead simply stated that its finding was based on the evidence presented at trial. Based on the finding that Correa-Alicea was responsible for in excess of 4.5 kilograms of cocaine base, the district court assigned him a base offense level of 38. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(1). The court applied a one-level enhancement because the offense was committed in a protected location, U.S.S.G. § 2D1.2(a)(2), and a three-level enhancement because Correa-Alicea was a leader in the criminal activity, U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(b), for a total offense level of 42. Combined with a Criminal History Category of I, this offense level resulted in a guidelines imprisonment range of 360 months to life, and the court sentenced Correa-Alicea to a prison term of 360 months.