Opinion ID: 766255
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Role in the Offense Enhancement

Text: 61 Under the Sentencing Guidelines, a district court can increase a defendant's sentence by two levels if the defendant was an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor in any criminal activity. See USSG § 3B1.1(c). As the application notes to the provision make clear, a defendant qualifies for a sentence enhancement under § 3B1.1 if he was the organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor of one or more other participants. An upward departure may be warranted ... in the case of a defendant who . . . exercised management responsibility over the property, assets, or activities of a criminal organization.USSG § 3B1.1 comment. (n.2). This Court has held that where a defendant exercises control over another participant, sentence enhancement is required, while evidence that a defendant exercised control over property, assets or activities merely permits sentence enhancement. See United States v. Gort-DiDonato, 109 F.3d 318, 320 (6th Cir. 1997). 62 Although Defendant claims the district court erred in enhancing his sentence by two levels under the Guidelines, we are unpersuaded. The district court based its decision to enhance Defendant's sentence on its findings that he made the decisions about the drug transactions, he managed Ables during drug transactions, and he exercised control over the proceeds of the drug conspiracy. The testimony of Pearce and Winesburgh, and of the agents who investigated Defendant's home and his mother's home at the time of his arrest, supports these findings. Because consideration of the entire evidence does not lead to the firm conviction that the district court made a mistake, we conclude the district court did not clearly err in its decision to enhance Defendant's sentence by two levels for his role in the offense.