Opinion ID: 750120
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Attribution Claims

Text: 37 Four of the appellants--Hameen, Judy McCarroll, Jarrett, and Key--claim that the district court should not have held them responsible for the full 75.4 kilograms of heroin distributed by the conspiracy. Our circuit holds a conspirator responsible for the amount of drugs that conspirator actually distributes, as well as for any quantity distributed by the conspiracy that was reasonably foreseeable to the conspirator. See Magana, 118 F.3d at 1205; United States v. McMillen, 8 F.3d 1246, 1253 (7th Cir.1993), cert. denied sub nom. Raji v. United States, 511 U.S. 1071, 114 S.Ct. 1649, 128 L.Ed.2d 368 (1994); see also United States v. Garcia, 66 F.3d 851, 860-61 (7th Cir.1995) ([T]hose convicted of conspiring to violate the drug laws are criminally responsible for the total quantity of drugs in which the conspiracy they joined can reasonably be estimated to have dealt.) (quotation omitted). Similarly, USSG § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B) holds a defendant accountable for all drugs distributed by a conspiracy that were reasonably foreseeable, and therefore attributable, to the defendant. Cf. USSG § 1B1.3, comment. (n.2) (A defendant's relevant conduct does not include the conduct of members of a conspiracy prior to the defendant joining the conspiracy, even if the defendant knows of that conduct....). This determination of reasonable foreseeability is a factual determination and is therefore reviewed under the same deferential, clearly erroneous standard as our previous inquiry. See McMillen, 8 F.3d at 1250. 38 The district court's attribution of the full amount of heroin to each appellant is supported by substantial evidence in the record. Judy McCarroll was integral to the appellants' criminal scheme. She recorded the flow of heroin and money throughout the life of the conspiracy in a number of bookkeeping ledgers. In addition, she draped herself in the fruits of the conspiracy's business-expensive furs, jewelry, luxury cars, and the like--and oversaw the efforts to launder its plentiful profits. It was not clearly erroneous to find that she knew the full scope of the conspiracy's distribution activities and should therefore be held responsible for that full amount. 39 Similarly, Samir Hameen cannot now profess ignorance of the scope of the conspiracy's operations. He dated Judy McCarroll and had a close relationship with her son Lawrence, both of which suggest an awareness of the full scope of the conspiracy's illegal activities. More importantly, Hameen was the member of the conspiracy in charge of keeping a steady stream of wholesale heroin flowing into the conspiracy's lab so that the street vendors could service their clients at Ida Wells. This involved making huge buys three to four times per month. It was reasonably foreseeable, if only from a common sense perspective, that the high-purity heroin would be diluted and resold in varying amounts. See id. at 1253 (holding that a conspirator who purchased large amounts of high-purity heroin was not so naive about the mechanics of the conspiracy's distribution scheme that he could not foresee that co-conspirators would dilute the heroin prior to selling it on the street). The Government need not tie a conspirator to each transaction so long as the conspirator could reasonably foresee that the transactions would occur. The district court did not clearly err in attributing the full 75.4 kilograms to Hameen. 40 Appellant Jarrett argues that the Government did not produce evidence of his involvement in the conspiracy until November 1994. Therefore, because the Government busted the conspiracy in January 1995, he contends that the district court clearly erred in attributing to him the full amount of heroin distributed by the conspiracy for a full twelve months. The district court admitted that most of the wiretap references to Jarrett occurred during the later part of the conspiracy, but noted that the Government's wiretap began operating in November 1994 and that, therefore, the first references to all appellants occurred at that time. The court found that Jarrett's expressed familiarity with the conspiracy's operations in these recorded conversations, as well as his intensive involvement in the conspiracy during that period of time, implied an earlier involvement. The district court's finding is supported by a police stop in May 1994 in which Jarrett was found with $1220 in cash and by Linda Davis's testimony that Jarrett stored money in her apartment throughout the summer of 1994. Also, testimony from various police officers placed Jarrett among a group of look-outs at Ida Wells long before his first recorded telephone conversation. Based on this evidence, the district court found that Jarrett was a member of the conspiracy throughout its fourteen-month life and should be held responsible for all of its activities. This finding was not so lacking in foundation as to be clearly erroneous. 41 At the time of the conspiracy's activities, Appellant Jamie Key was less than eighteen years old. The district court granted the Government's motion to transfer Key to adult status in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 5032. This transfer statute, however, does not permit the Government to charge a juvenile with conspiracy; thus, the jury could only convict Key of numerous possession charges. The jury returned convictions on all of these charges against Key. At sentencing, the district court found that Key was an integral member of the conspiracy and, even though he could not be convicted of conspiracy charges, the court attributed to him the full amount of heroin distributed by the conspiracy. Key contends that the legislative judgment that juveniles cannot be convicted of conspiracy should likewise preclude courts from attributing a conspiracy's drug sales to a juvenile member for sentencing purposes. 42 We disagree with Key's interpretation of the relevant statutes and sentencing guidelines. Once the district court transferred him to adult status, Key became subject to the rule--like any adult offender--that the court should consider all of his relevant conduct for sentencing purposes. Section 1B1.3(a)(1)(B) of the Sentencing Guidelines directs courts to appraise 43 in the case of a jointly undertaken criminal activity (a criminal plan, scheme, endeavor, or enterprise undertaken by the defendant in concert with others, whether or not charged as a conspiracy) all reasonably foreseeable acts and omissions of others in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal activity that occurred during the commission of the offense of conviction, in preparation for that offense, or in the course of attempting to avoid detection or responsibility for that offense. 44 (Emphasis added). Thus, if a juvenile defendant was involved in a criminal conspiracy, the Guidelines command a judge to look past the actual charges brought against the juvenile; the inquiry focuses solely on whether the conspiracy's distribution activities were reasonably foreseeable to the defendant. In such a situation, courts can take the conspiracy's conduct into account regardless of whether the defendant was not (or, in this case, could not be) actually charged with conspiracy. See also USSG § 1B1.3, comment. (n. 10) (Conduct that is not formally charged or is not an element of the offense of conviction may enter into the determination of the applicable guideline sentencing range.); United States v. Taylor, 72 F.3d 533, 541 (7th Cir.1995) (attributing a conspiracy's full drug distribution quantity to a defendant convicted only of attempted possession with intent to distribute cocaine). 45 There was abundant evidence in the record that Appellant Key was a trusted and valuable member of the conspiracy's drug operations from its inception. Lawrence McCarroll had obtained the rank of governor within the Gangster Disciples Nation, and he attended regular board meetings of the gang at which all the governors from other areas reported on the financial status of their drug businesses. When Lawrence McCarroll could not attend one of these regular governors' meetings, he would often send Key as the conspiracy's representative. This is not the kind of heavy responsibility normally given to a low level functionary in an organization. Compare Br. of Appellant Key at 19. In addition, the Government presented countless telephone calls in which Key informed other members of the conspiracy about the current status of the day's heroin sales. In just the limited periods of time that the Government's wiretaps operated, Key frequently reported to Lawrence McCarroll about his plans to deposit the conspiracy's daily profits, to bring more heroin to the street vendors at Ida Wells, and to go to the conspiracy's lab with supplies for diluting a large quantity of high-purity heroin. We cannot say that the district court clearly erred in finding that Key reasonably foresaw the total quantity of heroin distributed by the conspiracy and should therefore be sentenced on that basis.