Opinion ID: 196984
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ismael Rivera-DeCelis

Text: 17 Appellant Rivera-DeCelis was alleged to have been involved in several phases of the drug conspiracy detailed in the superseding indictment. He was charged in Count One with distributing not less than fifty grams of cocaine base, an amount of not less than five kilograms of cocaine, an amount of not less than one kilogram of heroin, and some amount of marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) & 846. Counts Three, Four and Five charged him with possessing and brandishing various firearms in connection with his drug trafficking, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). 18 After an initial plea of not guilty, on September 8, 1994, Rivera-DeCelis offered to change his plea to guilty to Count One's charge that he acted in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and Count Three's charge that he acted in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). The plea agreement was entered into under Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(e)(1)(c). 2 It provided that the defendant would be held accountable at sentencing for the distribution of no less than 15 but no more than 50 kilograms of cocaine, resulting in a base offense level of 34. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(a)(3). The parties also agreed that the defendant was entitled to a three-level downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility, under U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(b)(1) & (2), reducing his offense level to 31. The parties further defined the term of imprisonment: In light of the ten year mandatory minimum sentence facing Rivera-DeCelis under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B), and a criminal history category of III, they stipulated to a 139 month term of confinement on Count One to be followed by a 60 month term on Count Three. 3 19 During the plea colloquy, the district judge directly addressed Rivera-DeCelis. He explained each charge, detailing, among other things, the time frame of the conspiracy in which the defendant allegedly was involved (roughly from January of 1993 through March of 1994), the elements of the offenses and the burden the government would have if it tried to prove its case. 4 He also explained to the defendant the sentences he faced and the consequences of his plea, inquired about coercion and made sure the defendant understood the particular strictures of a plea entered into under Rule 11(e)(1)(c). The defendant agreed to the facts presented in the indictment, without asserting that there were any temporal limits to his personal involvement in the conspiracy. 20 Turning to the factual basis of the charges, the judge asked Rivera-DeCelis whether the defendant was recognizing [his guilt] ... for the drug conspiracy participation and also for the weapons or firearms count, and whether he acknowledged the punishment he could face. Rivera-DeCelis answered in the affirmative to both questions. 5 21 At sentencing, the defendant challenged the drug amount attributed to him in the PSR. Notwithstanding his earlier admissions, Rivera-DeCelis asserted that he was only involved in the conspiracy for three months and that the amount of cocaine reflected in the plea agreement was greater than the amount he could reasonably have foreseen would have been part of the conspiracy during his membership in it. The government cast doubt on the short duration of Rivera-DeCelis' involvement, noting that he was pictured holding a gun and serving as a bodyguard for one of the conspiracy's leaders. Logically, the prosecutor argued, such a responsibility would not devolve to a new and marginal member of the organization. In any event, even within a 90 day period, the government contended, the daily quantities of drugs sold as part of the conspiracy would result in a drug offense level of over 34. 22 The district judge did not accept the defendant's characterization of his involvement and rejected his challenge. The judge noted that the benefits of this plea agreement to the defendant were substantial, since, for instance, no amount of crack cocaine was attributed to the defendant, a drug which all of them were dealing ... without a doubt. Accordingly, the court adopted a base offense level of 34 and granted the defendant a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility. U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(b). Based on a criminal history category of III, Rivera-DeCelis was sentenced on the drug charge to a prison term of 139 months, at the lower end of the guideline range, 6 to be followed by a term of 60 months on the firearms charge. The remaining charges against Rivera-DeCelis were dismissed.
23
24 Although he never moved to withdraw his plea prior to sentencing, Rivera-DeCelis now challenges its validity. 7 He claims that his plea was not voluntary, because the district court failed to offer an adequate explanation of the charges against him or to determine whether he understood the consequences of his plea. 25 We do not agree. On the record before us, we find no error. 1. Legal Standards 26 A defendant does not enjoy an absolute right to withdraw a plea of guilty, once it has been entered. United States v. Isom, 85 F.3d 831, 834 (1st Cir.1996); United States v. Austin, 948 F.2d 783, 786 (1st Cir.1991); Fed.R.Crim.P. 11 & 32(e). Where a defendant does not seek to withdraw his plea before the district court and challenges its validity only on appeal, he or she faces a high hurdle: The challenge can succeed only if the defendant demonstrates that there was a substantial defect in the Rule 11 proceeding itself. 8 United States v. Piper, 35 F.3d 611, 613-14 (1st Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1118, 130 L.Ed.2d 1082 (1995); see also United States v. Japa, 994 F.2d 899, 902 (1st Cir.1993); 9 United States v. Parra-Ibanez, 936 F.2d 588 (1st Cir.1991); 10 accord United States v. Cotal-Crespo, 47 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 94, 133 L.Ed.2d 49 (1995); Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(e). 27 In evaluating the validity of an appellant's plea, we review the totality of the circumstances surrounding the Rule 11 hearing. Cotal-Crespo, 47 F.3d at 4. 11 2. The Plea Colloquy 28 As to the validity of the Rule 11 proceeding below, appellant Rivera-DeCelis rests his argument on two points: (1) his limited education and ability to understand the written word, because of his dyslexia; and (2) the district court's failure to ensure that Rivera-DeCelis actually had read the superseding indictment under which he was charged. The government argues that the appellant's Rule 11 challenge--at this late hour--is wholly without merit. 29 The government has the better argument. 30 The core concerns of Rule 11 require that the defendant be instructed in open court with respect to the nature of the charge to which the plea is offered, Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(c)(1), and that a plea  'cannot be considered truly voluntary unless the defendant possesses an understanding of the law in relation to the facts.'  United States v. Broce, 488 U.S. 563, 570, 109 S.Ct. 757, 762, 102 L.Ed.2d 927 (1989) (quoting McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 466, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 1171, 22 L.Ed.2d 418 (1969)); Piper, 35 F.3d at 614. 31 In the case before us, the district judge addressed Rivera-DeCelis personally, directly, and with careful questions designed to ensure that defendant actually understood the proceedings. The judge specifically explained both the elements of each offense and the factual accusations against the defendant. As he walked Rivera-DeCelis through these aspects of the case against him, the judge inquired--at each turn--whether Rivera-DeCelis subjectively understood the situation. The district judge also made sure that Rivera-DeCelis in fact grasped the consequences of his plea. Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(c)(1). Only after assuring himself that Rivera-DeCelis understood the charges, the facts that formed their bases and the consequences of his plea, did the district judge ask Rivera-DeCelis to attest to the facts to which he was pleading guilty. 12 32 Consideration of other factors surrounding the plea does not yield a better result for the appellant. With respect to the validity of the proffered reasons for requesting that we set aside Rivera-DeCelis' plea, we are not persuaded, particularly given the care with which the district judge directly addressed the defendant on each issue of central concern under Rule 11. The timing of the request, made for the first time before an appellate court, also counsels against setting aside the plea. The defendant made no assertion of legal innocence; and, finally, the plea was offered pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement. 33 In short, the district judge fully addressed the core concerns of Rule 11. Accordingly, we decline to set aside appellant Rivera-DeCelis' plea of guilty. 34
35 Rivera-DeCelis also challenges his sentence on the ground that the drug quantity attributed to him was incorrectly inflated and did not reflect his limited participation in the conspiracy. The error is based, the appellant argues, on the district court's failure to make individualized findings. The government disagrees, stating that the sentencing court's findings were sufficiently precise and based solidly on the evidence presented. 36 We review the district judge's quantity determinations at sentencing for clear error. United States v. Jimenez Martnez, 83 F.3d 488, 492 (1st Cir.1996); 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e). 37 The appellant's argument is wholly without merit. 38 Under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, where a defendant engaged in jointly undertaken criminal activity, he or she may be sentenced for his or her own acts and all reasonably foreseeable acts and omissions of others in furtherance of [that] ... activity. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B) & comment n. 1. In the context of drug trafficking offenses, where sentences are driven largely by the amount of drugs for which a defendant is held accountable, the base offense level of a co-conspirator ... should reflect only the quantity of drugs he reasonably foresees is the object of the conspiracy to distribute after he joins the conspiracy. United States v. O'Campo, 973 F.2d 1015, 1026 (1st Cir.1992); see also United States v. Campbell, 61 F.3d 976, 982 (1st Cir.1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 1556, 134 L.Ed.2d 657 (1996); U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c) (drug quantity table). 39 It is well settled that defendants in a drug conspiracy are not only responsible for drug quantities which they themselves sold, transported or negotiated; they are also responsible for drug amounts which, from their particular vantage points in the conspiracy, it was reasonably foreseeable would be involved, and which were in fact involved, in the offense. See, e.g., United States v. Lombard, 72 F.3d 170, 176 (1st Cir.1995); United States v. Carrozza, 4 F.3d 70, 80 (1st Cir.1993), cert. denied, 511 U.S. 1069, 114 S.Ct. 1644, 128 L.Ed.2d 365 (1994); U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 & commentary. It is the project of the sentencing court to determine what a particular defendant could reasonably have foreseen. Carrozza, 4 F.3d at 76. 40 In this case, the sentencing judge carried out this responsibility without error. 41 It is undisputed that Rivera-DeCelis pled guilty to engaging in jointly undertaken criminal activity triggering the application of section 1B1.3(a)(1)(B). At his plea hearing, Rivera-DeCelis accepted the factual recitation of the indictment, indicating an involvement in the conspiracy from January 1993 through March of 1994. He also acknowledged knowing of trafficking in crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana over that period of time. His plea, indeed, situated him in the center of the conspiracy's activities, aware of its use of firearms as well as the extent of the drug dealing. 42 The district judge was not persuaded by defense counsel's explanation that he had urged his client to accept the plea because he was unsure he could confirm the circumscribed scope of the defendant's involvement. 13 The defendant did little else to confirm that his vantage point was so distant from the main activity and he stood in that place for such a fleeting moment that he could not reasonably have foreseen that not less than 15 but not more than 50 kilograms of cocaine would be involved in the offense. Notably, he never suggested--much less proved--a precise amount for which he should be held accountable. 43 Against this shaky challenge, the government offered sturdy support for attributing the defendant with at least 15 to 50 kilograms of cocaine. It reminded the sentencing court of the testimony of a co-conspirator, which had indicated that daily drug sales of which Rivera-DeCelis would have been aware amounted to well over 50 kilograms of cocaine in a matter of months. 14 It also cast doubt on the allegedly limited nature of Rivera-DeCelis' involvement by focusing the court's attention on a photograph in which Rivera-DeCelis is pictured, holding a firearm, as a bodyguard to the leader of the conspiracy. 15 44 On this record, the district judge did not clearly err in adopting the government's reasoning, noting that the defendant reaped a benefit from the plea agreement and deciding that Rivera-DeCelis' base offense level should be 34. 45 We therefore affirm the district court's sentencing determination.