Opinion ID: 202742
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: standard of review

Text: 13 An issue is preserved for appeal when the appellant adequately preserved the issue through a timely and contemporaneous objection to the district court. See United States v. Wihbey, 75 F.3d 761, 771 (1st Cir.1996). When an issue has been preserved, review of a district court's factual findings relevant to a sentencing calculation is for clear error. United States v. Alli, 444 F.3d 34, 37 (1st Cir. 2006). Review of a district court's interpretation and application of the United States Sentencing Guidelines is de novo. United States v. Robinson, 433 F.3d 31, 35 (1st Cir.2005). 14 An issue is waived, however, where the appellant intentionally relinquishes or abandons it. United States v. Rodriguez, 311 F.3d 435, 437 (1st Cir. 2002). An appellate court will normally not review waived issues. Id. Alternatively, an appellant forfeits his claim by failing to make a timely assertion of a right. . . . Id. Appellate review of a forfeited claim is for plain error only, id., and such a standard can be satisfied only if (1) [] an error occurred (2) which was clear or obvious and which not only (3) affected the defendant's substantial rights, but also (4) seriously impaired the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of [the] judicial proceedings. United States v. Duarte, 246 F.3d 56, 60 (1st Cir.2001); see also United States v. Riggs, 287 F.3d 221, 224 (1st Cir.2002); United States v. Olivier-Diaz, 13 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir.1993). 15 The standard of review that will apply to Goodhue's appeal thus turns on whether he adequately preserved his claim before the district court. Accordingly, we scrutinize Goodhue's arguments on appeal to determine if he made the same arguments below. 16 Goodhue claims on appeal that the district court erred when it used the aggregate weight of the entire mixture containing undetermined amounts of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine to calculate the sentence. Appellant Br. at 16-18. The district court calculated the applicable advisory guideline range under section 2D1.11 by starting from a drug weight of 53.08 grams — the weight of the entire mixture 2 — instead of the isolated weights of the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine components within the mixtures. Sentencing Transcript (S.Tr.) at 6:18-7:1; 22:8-9. In so doing, the district judge calculated the Base Offense Level at 28, but expressed concern with this approach. Id. at 22:11-23:13. 17 At sentencing, the government advocated the position that when a mixture contains undetermined or undeterminable amounts of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the district court ought simply apply the section 2D1.11 tables to the aggregate weight of the mixtures. Id. at 9:3-25; 12:11-15. Goodhue's trial counsel objected to this approach. Id. at 16:4-17:6. Trial counsel argued that the district court must not apply the total weight of the mixture to the tables, but ought instead approximate the weight of the pure precursor components through any reasonable method. Id. at 16:4-10. The reference to any reasonable method sought to direct the district court to Application Note 1 of section 2D1.1, 3 which allows the court to estimate the weight of drug quantity when the components cannot be segregated. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2D1.1 cmt. n. 1 (2004). 4 18 Goodhue's trial counsel argued that the reasonable method that the court ought follow was the yield analysis of United States v. Barnett, 989 F.2d 546 (1st Cir. 1993), which calculated how much methamphetamine (actual) 5 could be processed from pseudoephedrine. S. Tr. at 17:3-16; Barnett, 989 F.2d at 553. The approximated amount is then applied to the methamphetamine (actual) drug quantity table. As trial counsel would have it, the court would utilize a ratio of one gram of mixture to 0.58 grams of methamphetamine (actual). S. Tr. at 17:2-16; Barnett, 989 F.2d at 553. Trial counsel objected, therefore, not to using the 53.08 grams of mixture as the starting point of the sentencing calculation, but to applying the aggregate weight of the mixture to the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine tables in section 2D1.11 instead of the approximated yield of methamphetamine (actual) under section 2D1.1. 19 The district court recognized, however, that the trial counsel's proposed yield analysis would produce 30.78 grams of methamphetamine (actual) from the 53.08 grams of mixture. S. Tr. at 17:14-19. Under section 2D1.1, this would still result in a Base Offense Level of 28. Id. at 17:18-19. Faced with this calculation, trial counsel conceded that he incorrectly read and applied the Guidelines. Id. at 18:23-19:1. 6 20 Goodhue now, on appeal and with new counsel, seeks to re-characterize the trial counsel's objection raised to the district court as one challenging the use of the 53.08 grams of mixture as the starting point of the calculation. Compare Appellant Br. at 16-18, with S. Tr. at 16:4-17:6. As described above, Goodhue's trial counsel bypassed a challenge on that threshold ground and focused instead on a legal theory as to how the Guidelines ought apply to the 53.08 grams of mixture. See S. Tr. at 16:3-17:6. By failing to object to the use of the aggregate weight of the mixture, Goodhue's trial counsel forfeited that issue for appeal. See United States v. Figuereo, 404 F.3d 537, 540, 540 n. 3 (1st Cir.2005) (applying a plain error review where a defendant objected at sentencing but on a basis not before the appellate panel). As a result, we will review only for plain error. See id. at 540.