Opinion ID: 220703
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence Regarding Drug Type

Text: Santiago also argues that the government presented insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that the drugs at issue were crack cocaine, as opposed to some other form of cocaine base. [2] He maintains that, as such, he is not eligible for the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence set forth in 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii). Santiago relies on our decision in United States v. Edwards, 397 F.3d 570, 577 (7th Cir.2005), in which we held that the phrase cocaine base in 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) refers only to crack cocaine. However, the Supreme Court recently disagreed, holding that the term cocaine base, as it is used in § 841(b)(1), means not just `crack cocaine,' but cocaine in its chemically basic form. DePierre v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 2225, 2237, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2011). In light of DePierre, Santiago's challenge fails.