Opinion ID: 719818
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evaluating the Government's Conduct

Text: 18 Lacey's principal complaint is that the July 5, 1989 purchase of approximately five kilograms of cocaine negotiated by Kelly Coley, the government's confidential informant, was carried out for no reason other than to increase the quantity of drugs involved and thereby enhance the severity of his punishment. Lacey argues that immediately following the third controlled half-kilogram purchase on May 23, 1989, everything necessary to discover the stash location and effectuate the eventual arrest of Lacey and his coconspirators was known to law enforcement officials. 19 The government, on the other hand, sets forth several reasons for its continued investigation of Lacey. First, F.B.I. surveillance of Lacey on July 5, 1989 (the date of his arrest), enabled the government to determine the precise location of the drug stash on the Edmonson Farm. Although the government's agents had observed Lacey at the Edmonson Farm previously, it was only on this later occasion that the agents were able to detect the location of the underground coolers containing the larger quantities of cocaine and marijuana. Absent this further investigation, the stash location may have remained undiscovered. 20 Moreover, as the government points out, until July 5, 1989, the F.B.I. had no direct evidence placing the cocaine in Lacey's possession. Prior to that point, the agents possessed only circumstantial evidence consisting of surveillance of Lacey meeting with his coconspirators under suspicious circumstances; yet, there was no clear evidence of an exchange of drugs or contraband during these meetings. The government's basis for seeking to gather additional evidence was to strengthen its case against Lacey. Law enforcement officials are entitled to buttress their cases with additional evidence, and the courts will not usurp the prosecutor's role in deciding when a particular case is strong enough to seek an indictment. See United States v. Baker, 63 F.3d 1478, 1500 (9th Cir.1995) ([T]he government ... must be permitted to exercise its own judgment in determining at what point in an investigation enough evidence has been obtained.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 824, 133 L.Ed.2d 767 (1996). 21 The government also notes that Lacey was not the only target of its investigation. Although the arrest of Lacey was admittedly a primary goal, the agents assigned to the case also sought to compile enough evidence to break up Lacey's drug ring and secure the conviction of all of his coconspirators. This is a legitimate law enforcement purpose. See United States v. Egemonye, 62 F.3d 425, 427-28 (1st Cir.1995) (noting that additional and larger transactions were appropriate in order to identify defendant's coconspirators). Lacey argues that the government already possessed evidence strong enough to accomplish this goal on May 23, 1989, prior to the multi-kilo purchase. However, Lacey's argument is undermined by the fact that two of his alleged coconspirators, Laura Klobuchar and Lee Ray Harper, were acquitted of all charges after a jury trial. These acquittals suggest, contrary to Lacey's assertion, that the evidence against Klobuchar and Harper was, if anything, not strong enough. 22 Nor do we find fault with the government's decision to seek a bigger buy from Lacey's distributor, Mary Friesen. We have previously held that it is not outrageous for the government to induce a defendant to continue criminal activity or even to induce him to expand or extend previous criminal activity. Mosley, 965 F.2d at 911 (citing United States v. Cantwell, 806 F.2d 1463, 1468-69 & n. 3 (10th Cir.1986)). Law enforcement officials are often justified in increasing the scope of criminal activity in a sting operation, especially when attempting to ensnare those persons higher up on the distribution ladder who are ultimately responsible for the supply of drugs. See United States v. Doyle, 60 F.3d 396, 398 (8th Cir.1995) (By asking [the confidential informant] to arrange a controlled buy of a substantial quantity of crack cocaine, the agents would have some assurance that [the informant] was in fact identifying a more culpable supplier.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 538, 133 L.Ed.2d 443 (1995). We agree with the reasoning of the Eighth Circuit on this point: 23 Obviously, any transaction in a sting after the first violation of law, however minor, will be subject to [sentence manipulation] attacks. Yet, we have established that it is legitimate for police to continue to deal with someone with whom they have already engaged in illicit transactions in order to establish that person's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or to probe the depth and extent of a criminal enterprise, to determine whether coconspirators exist, and to trace the drug deeper into the distribution hierarchy. 24 Shephard, 4 F.3d at 649 (quoting United States v. Calva, 979 F.2d 119, 123 (8th Cir.1992)). Moreover, we believe that the ultimate seizure of a larger quantity of illegal drugs from a suspect in connection with the arrest has positive societal consequences; eradicating illegal drugs from society is a legitimate, if not the primary, goal of drug enforcement officials. 25 Lacey directs our attention to, and urges us to follow, United States v. Staufer, 38 F.3d 1103 (9th Cir.1994). In Staufer, the defendant was convicted for selling 10,000 doses of LSD (lysergic diethamide acid) to an undercover government agent. The evidence at trial showed that earlier offers for much smaller amounts of LSD were refused by the agent, and that the purchase price was sweetened in order to overcome Staufer's reluctance in going through with the larger transaction. Id. at 1105. 7 The district court's findings indicated that Staufer was a user and infrequent seller of LSD, but that his sales were only made on a very small level to his personal friends. Id. at 1108. He had never engaged in a sale even close in size to the one for which he was convicted. Id. Based on these findings, the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 that Staufer was a victim of sentencing entrapment, and remanded to the district court for resentencing. Id. 8 26 Lacey's case is clearly distinguishable. Unlike Staufer, the district court here made no findings suggesting that Lacey was merely a small-time user who sold his drugs, if at all, only in small quantities to personal friends. Nor was there any evidence adduced at trial showing that Lacey was reluctant to go through with the larger multi-kilo transaction. On the contrary, the factual recitation in Lacey's own brief indicates that immediately after the government's confidential informant inquired about purchasing the six kilograms of cocaine, the informant was told by Lacey's distributor that it would not be a problem. Br. of Appellant at 8. Moreover, the record is replete with evidence showing that Lacey dealt in large quantities of cocaine and marijuana. On the night of his arrest, for example, Lacey was seen driving his vehicle to the very spot where several kilograms of cocaine and marijuana were unearthed. This evidence sharply conflicts with Lacey's depiction of himself as a small-time user. Thus, we cannot say that the government's conduct in this case was so outrageous as to  'overcome[ ] the will of an individual predisposed only to dealing in small quantities.'  Staufer, 38 F.3d at 1106 (quoting United States v. Lenfesty, 923 F.2d 1293, 1300 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 968, 111 S.Ct. 1602, 113 L.Ed.2d 665 (1991)). 27 Because of our concerns about curtailing the government's discretion in fighting crime, and bearing in mind the ad hoc nature of the due process inquiry, we decline, as Lacey essentially asks us, to fashion a bright line rule prescribing the point at which the government must cease its investigation and arrest targeted criminals. Moreover, we agree with the government that its continued investigation of Lacey following the half-kilogram purchase on May 23, 1989 was in furtherance of legitimate law enforcement objectives and not, as a matter of law, outrageous. We are aware that the sentencing guidelines present opportunities for unscrupulous law enforcement officials to continue an undercover investigation for the sole purpose of ratcheting up the punishment that ultimately will be meted out to the target. 9 However, [w]hile we may some day be presented with a situation in which the conduct of law enforcement agents is so outrageous that due process principles would warrant a downward departure from the sentencing guidelines, cf. Russell, 411 U.S. at 431, 93 S.Ct. at 1642-43, today is not that day.II. Sentence Enhancement Based on Role in the Offense 28 Lacey also challenges the district court's imposition of a four-level enhancement based on his role in the offense as an organizer or leader of a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was otherwise extensive. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a). Lacey contends, first, that he did not assume an organizational or leadership role in the offense; and second, that the relevant criminal activity did not involve five or more participants. 29 In order to justify an enhancement based on a defendant's role in the offense, the sentencing court must make specific factual findings as to that role. United States v. Roberts, 14 F.3d 502, 522 (10th Cir.1993). We review these factual findings for clear error, giving deference to the district court's application of the sentencing guidelines to the facts. United States v. Torres, 53 F.3d 1129, 1142 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 2599, 132 L.Ed.2d 845 (1995). However, questions of law regarding the application of the guidelines are reviewed de novo. Roberts, 14 F.3d at 523. The four level enhancement prescribed by § 3B1.1(a) of the guidelines can be imposed only if the sentencing court finds that: (1) the defendant is an organizer or leader; and (2) the relevant criminal activity involved five or more participants or was otherwise extensive. Torres, 53 F.3d at 1142 (quoting Roberts, 14 F.3d at 523). We believe the district court's findings as to both of these requirements are supported by the record and thus are not clearly erroneous. 30 In order to characterize the defendant as an organizer or leader for purposes of guideline § 3B1.1(a), we have held that certain threshold elements of control or organization must be present. United States v. Roach, 978 F.2d 573, 576 (10th Cir.1992). Specifically, the defendant must have exercised some degree of control over others involved in the commission of the offense or he must have been responsible for organizing others for the purpose of carrying out the crime. United States v. Reid, 911 F.2d 1456, 1464 (10th Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1097, 111 S.Ct. 990, 112 L.Ed.2d 1074 (1991). The guidelines specify several factors that the sentencing court should consider in determining whether the defendant occupied an organizational or leadership role, including: 31 the exercise of decision making authority, the nature of participation in the commission of the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a larger share of the fruits of the crime, the degree of participation in planning or organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority exercised over others. 32 U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1, comment. (n.4). These factors are intended only to guide the analysis of the sentencing court, and the guidelines do not require that each be satisfied for § 3B1.1 to apply. United States v. Bernaugh, 969 F.2d 858, 863 (10th Cir.1992). 33 The district court specifically found that Lacey was an organizer or leader for purposes of § 3B1.1(a). The court based this finding on information gleaned from the presentence report, the testimony at trial, and numerous tape recordings of conversations between the government's confidential informant and Lacey's coconspirators. The tape recordings reveal that Lacey directed his intermediaries, including Mary Friesen and Lee Ray Harper, to arrange the various drug transactions for him. Lacey himself controlled the quantity and timing of the sales, as well as the price to be paid for the drugs. In one taped conversation, Friesen is heard telling the government informant that because of Lacey's additional transportation costs (i.e., smuggling costs), the price of the cocaine was going up. Friesen also admits several times on tape that she had previously smuggled cocaine for Lacey into Kansas from California. Finally, Lacey is the person who had access to the secret stash location on the Edmonson farm, thus showing that he controlled the supply of drugs to the entire criminal operation. Applying these facts to the criteria set forth in the guidelines, we believe the district court did not clearly err in finding by a preponderance of the evidence that Lacey was an organizer or leader for purposes of § 3B1.1(a). 34 As to the five or more participants requirement of § 3B1.1(a), the district court specifically identified four individuals in addition to Lacey who were participants in the criminal activity: Mary Friesen, Mitcheal Edmonson, Laura Klobuchar, and Lee Ray Harper. However, Lacey contends that because Klobuchar and Harper were acquitted after a jury trial, the district court erred when it included them as participants under § 3B1.1(a). 35 The Sentencing Commission has defined a participant as a person who is criminally responsible for the commission of the offense, but need not have been convicted. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1, comment. (n.1) (emphasis added). Although the guidelines clearly do not require a conviction to confer participant status, Lacey asks us to read the emphasized language as referring only to unindicted coconspirators, and not to those persons acquitted by a jury. Thus, Lacey argues, the criminal enterprise should not have included Harper and Klobuchar, who, by virtue of their acquittals, could not have been criminally responsible within the meaning of § 3B1.1(a). We disagree. 36 Lacey's unique interpretation of § 3B1.1(a) is without precedential support in this Circuit and is contrary to at least the general principles announced in some of our prior decisions. In United States v. Washington, 11 F.3d 1510, 1516 (10th Cir.1993), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 1404, 128 L.Ed.2d 76 (1994), for instance, we upheld the district court's enhancement of the defendant's sentence based upon evidence of certain drug quantities, even though the defendant was not convicted of these additional amounts. 11 F.3d at 1516. Underlying our analysis in Washington was the premise that although certain evidence may not suffice to establish criminal liability under the reasonable doubt standard, that same evidence may nevertheless support a sentence enhancement under the less rigorous preponderance standard. See also United States v. Saro, 24 F.3d 283, 286 n. 3 (D.C.Cir.1994) ([A] sentencing court may include even acquitted offenses as 'relevant conduct'; a judge may well determine that the government has proved an offense by a preponderance of the evidence ... even though the jury concluded that the offense had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.). The majority of circuits now adhere to the principle that criminal conduct for which a person has been acquitted may nevertheless form the basis for a sentence enhancement. See United States v. Kelly, 1 F.3d 1137, 1139 n. 1 (10th Cir.1993) (All circuits except the Ninth permit the sentencing court to consider the facts underlying an acquittal in upwardly departing or enhancing a sentence.) (collecting cases). 37 This reasoning applies with equal force to Lacey's case--that is, even though a jury did not find Klobuchar and Harper guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the district court was not foreclosed from finding by a preponderance of the evidence that they were criminally responsible and thus participants in Lacey's drug conspiracy. Because the district court's findings on this point were not clearly erroneous, we do not disturb its imposition of a four-level enhancement for Lacey's role in the offense. 38