Opinion ID: 701286
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Larry Edward Hiveley

Text: Drug Quantity 19 Hiveley alleges the district court erred in making its findings of fact regarding the drug quantity attributable to him for his conduct in participating in this conspiracy. Hiveley contends that the district court erred in making factual findings assessing him with various quantities of controlled substances based upon the testimony of co-conspirators, corroborating evidence, and quantities of drugs seized. Because of claimed insufficient evidence to support some of the quantity determinations made by the district court, Hiveley argues that the case should be remanded for re-sentencing. 20 At sentencing, the court found that Hiveley's relevant conduct included 1,695 kilograms of marijuana. Most of the quantity determinations required the district judge to rely on estimates of co-conspirators, Tom Burns, Tom Lowe and Butch White. Their estimates and guesses accounted for 1,195 kilograms of marijuana. The remainder of the total quantity was based on 1,100 pounds of marijuana seized from a trailer on Hiveley's property. The thrust of Hiveley's argument is that the co-conspirators' testimony regarding the quantity of drugs is not credible because their testimony was rejected by the jury at trial. 21 At sentencing, the determination of drug quantity is a factual finding and is reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. United States v. Sleet, 893 F.2d 947, 949 (8th Cir.1990). The district court's finding regarding the quantity of drugs is not clearly erroneous, and the court did not err in calculating the relevant drug quantity attributable to Hiveley for sentencing purposes. After reviewing the record, we determine that the district court's quantity determinations were based upon its review of the evidence and credibility of the witnesses. Although the court noted that some of the witnesses exhibited credibility problems, the court went on to make specific findings concerning each witness' testimony and the quantity attributed to determine the base offense level. The court considered all of the evidence presented, including credibility, and approximated a quantity of drugs attributable to Hiveley. 2 Increase for Possession of a Firearm 22 The district court enhanced Hiveley's sentence two levels for possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime pursuant to U.S.S.G. Section 2D1.1(b)(1). Application Note 3 provides: 23 The enhancement for weapon possession reflects the increased danger of violence when drug traffickers possess weapons. The adjustment should be applied if the weapon was present, unless it is clearly improbable that the weapon was connected with the offense. For example, the enhancement would not be applied if the defendant, arrested at his residence, had an unloaded hunting rifle in the closet. 24 U.S.S.G. Sec. 2D1.1(b)(1), comment. (n. 3). 25 Hiveley argues that the district court erred in increasing his sentence by two-levels to reflect his possession of a firearm during the commission of the conspiracy. Hiveley contends that the government failed to show that it was not clearly improbable that the weapons seized from his residence had a nexus with the criminal activity. 26 The guns seized by the government in this case were seized from the bedroom of a 1971 double-wide mobile home where Hiveley, his wife and her two minor children lived. There were a number of unloaded long-arm rifles and shotguns found in the closet off the master bedroom. Small handguns were located in the master bedroom. Kim Hiveley testified that the two loaded small caliber pistols belong to her, and that she obtained those prior to getting married to Larry Hiveley in 1993. There were no weapons seized from the trailer where the 1100 pounds of marijuana were found. Hiveley contends that because there was no evidence that he had ever used any weapon in connection with drug trafficking, the district court committed clear error by assessing the two-level enhancement against him for the weapons. This argument does not mandate a reversal. 27 The district court could properly enhance Hiveley's sentence for possession of a firearm; evidence in the record supports the finding of the district judge. Moreover, proof of a connection between the firearms and the criminal activity does not require a showing that [defendant] 'ever used or even touched the (gun).' ... Constructive possession will suffice to justify an upward adjustment for possession of a firearm during the commission of an offense. United States v. Turpin, 920 F.2d 1377, 1386 (8th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 953, 111 S.Ct. 1428, 113 L.Ed.2d 480 (1991), citing United States v. Luster, 896 F.2d 1122, 1129 (8th Cir.1990). 28 During the search of Hiveley's ranch, officers recovered over 1,100 pounds of marijuana in a storage building located on the ranch. Also recovered in the search of the shed were drug records, scales, packaging materials, and a device to compress marijuana. The drug records seized from the shed contained twenty-four separate accounts designations reflecting a total shipment of 10,262 pounds of marijuana. During the search of the master bedroom, officers found marijuana, cocaine, over $3,000 cash, three loaded handguns, a .44 magnum revolver and two .25 caliber semiautomatic pistols, and a drug scale. Overall, the evidence supports the district court's enhancement of Hiveley's sentence of two levels for possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.