Opinion ID: 168389
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Quantity of Marijuana Plants Involved in the Offense

Text: 25 Mr. Montgomery was charged with violating 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and § 841(b)(1)(B). Section 841(a)(1) proscribes possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and § 841(b)(1)(B)(vii) is a complementary provision that provides the penalty for a violation of § 841(a)(1) involving 100 or more marijuana plants, regardless of weight. To sustain a conviction for possession with intent to distribute, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant: (1) possessed the controlled substance; (2) knew he possessed the controlled substance; and (3) intended to distribute or dispense the controlled substance. United States v. McKissick, 204 F.3d 1282, 1291 (10th Cir.2000). Furthermore, when, as in this case, the government elects to charge a defendant with possessing with intent to distribute a certain quantity of drugs, that quantity of drugs becomes an element of the charged offense if the quantity triggers a sentence beyond the maximum allowed for violation of the base § 841(a)(1) offense. United States v. Jones, 235 F.3d 1231, 1236 (10th Cir.2000). Possession of the substance can be actual or constructive. McKissick, 204 F.3d at 1291. In addition, a jury may infer intent to distribute from the possession of large quantities of drugs. United States v. Pulido-Jacobo, 377 F.3d 1124, 1131 (10th Cir.2004). 26 As noted, the district court determined that for Mr. Montgomery to be convicted under § 841(b)(1)(B)(vii), the government had to prove that he intended to distribute from each of 100 or more marijuana plants. The district court's interpretation is not supported by the plain language of the statute; hence, the district court evaluated the evidence using an incorrect legal standard and came to an incorrect result. 27 Section 841(a)(1) provides that it shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to . . . possess with intent to . . . distribute . . . a controlled substance . . . . Section 841(b)(1)(B)(vii) provides for a specific penalty given a violation of § 841(a)(1) involving . . . 100 or more marijuana plants regardless of weight. The statute itself does not define the word involving. However, the root word involve means to have within or as part of itself. Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary 637 (9th ed.1991). 3 Webster's lists the words include and entail as relevant synonyms for this meaning of involve. Id. Similarly, the American Heritage Dictionary defines involve as [t]o contain as a part; include. American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed.2000). Involves or involving are merely inflected forms of the word involve and do not vary from the root in core meaning. Given these definitions, and the common meaning attached to the word involve, the penalties of § 841(b)(1)(B)(vii) are triggered when the predicate violation of § 841(a)(1), has as a part or includes, 100 or more marijuana plants. 28 In reaching its interpretation that a defendant must intend to distribute from each of the plants comprising the 100 plant minimum, the district court relied on United States v. Asch, 207 F.3d 1238 (10th Cir.2000), and United States v. Rodriguez-Sanchez, 23 F.3d 1488 (9th Cir.1994). In Asch, we held that methamphetamine kept for personal use should be excluded from the base amount calculation under § 841(b)(1). 207 F.3d at 1246. We held that drug quantities collateral to the underlying § 841(a) violation are not relevant to determinations of the statutory sentencing range pursuant to § 841(b). Id. at 1245. In Rodriguez-Sanchez, the Ninth Circuit held that only methamphetamine intended for distribution, not that held for personal use, could be added to the base amount under § 841(b)(1). 23 F.3d at 1491, 1496. 29 These cases do not suggest that a defendant must intend to distribute marijuana from each plant comprising the 100 plant minimum. Both Asch and Rodriguez-Sanchez involved a finite amount of processed narcotics. Finite quantities of processed narcotics kept for personal use are not a part of the underlying offense of possession with intent to distribute. In other words, a person possessing processed narcotics both for distribution purposes and for personal use is free to sell the distribution quantity regardless of the amount that he keeps for personal use. The holdings in Asch and Rodriguez-Sanchez are fully compatible with our definition of the word involving because processed narcotics kept for personal use are not a part of the underlying § 841(a)(1) offense. It is also worth noting that, unlike in Asch and Rodriguez-Sanchez, there is no evidence in this case suggesting the mother plants were kept solely for personal use. 30 Unlike finite quantities of narcotics kept for personal use, a reasonable jury could conclude that Mr. Montgomery's mother plants were a part of the marijuana growing operation. The testimony at trial revealed that Mr. Montgomery managed an extensive marijuana growing operation in which marijuana could be harvested for distribution or personal use. The district court correctly found that all 99 plants could be counted for distribution, even though a portion of each plant might have been for personal use. Aplt.App. at 217. Yet, the district court apparently concluded that the two mother plants were not involved in the predicate § 841(a)(1) offense because they were used only for cloning, and the government presented no evidence that defendant intended to harvest or distribute marijuana from any part of the mother plants. Id. Instead of categorically excluding the mother plants from the base count because they were used for cloning, the district court should have considered whether the mother plants, as used for cloning purposes, contributed to the predicate § 841(a)(1) offense. 31 The evidence plainly supports the reasonable inference that some of Mr. Montgomery's marijuana plants were clones of the two mother plants. DEA Agent Brent Coup testified that upon his entry of the home at 1616 South 15th Street, he located a number of growing trays and grow mix in a closet. Id. at 140-42. He testified how the trays and grow mix would have been used to construct a hydroponic marijuana growing system. Id. He also testified that he observed a grow room in the house, id. at 143, containing ventilation fans, a thermometer, humidity gauge, and track lighting, and easy-listening music (believed to help the plants grow better), id. at 143-46. He testified that he located supplies used for the cloning of marijuana plants including highly fertilized pieces of soil called grow blocks, razor blades used to cut shoots from mother plants, and clay pellets that the plants are placed into once they establish roots. Id. at 150-52. While most of the marijuana plants found were located in the grow room, several small cloned marijuana plants were located in a room adjacent to the growing room. Id. at 156-57. Agent Coup testified that these clones had established root systems. Id. at 156. Located in the room with the potted clones were the mother plants. Id. at 157. 32 Taking the reasonable inference that some of the 99 distribution plants found in the house were clones of the mother plants, it flows logically that the mother plants were used or useful in Mr. Montgomery's distribution enterprise. Thus they were a part of the predicate § 841(a)(1) offense. This is simple but for causation. But for the mother plants, some, if not all, of the 99 other plants would not exist. But for the 99 plants, Mr. Montgomery would not have possessed with intent to distribute, marijuana. Therefore, the mother plants are a part of Mr. Montgomery's distribution enterprise and are a part of the predicate § 841(a)(1) offense that Mr. Montgomery knowingly or intentionally . . . possess[ed] with intent to . . . distribute. 33 In sum, this case is unlike Asch or Rodriguez-Sanchez because there is a causal link between the mother plants and Mr. Montgomery's distribution enterprise that did not exist between the methamphetamine kept for personal use and that kept for distribution. Because we conclude that the two mother plants can also be counted toward the total, a reasonable jury could find that Mr. Montgomery possessed with intent to distribute, 101 marijuana plants.