Opinion ID: 2995611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Hallgren’s Sentence

Text: Hallgren next challenges his sentence, arguing that the district court erred in calculating drug quantity and in assessing him a two-point upward adjustment for obstruction of justice. We review both determinations for clear error. See United States v. Johnson, 227 F.3d 807, 813 (7th Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 1024 (2001). In calculating Hallgren’s sentence, the district court counted as relevant conduct 1,134 grams of methamphetamine. The court based its calculation on the trial testimony of Brenda Johnson and Michael Shopa, as well as a statement given to law enforcement by Natasja Brech, another former girlfriend of Hallgren’s. In particular, Johnson testified that for three years Hallgren made his living by selling drugs for Crowley, and that she witnessed him in possession of a golf ball-size rock of methamphetamine, which he crushed and packaged for resale. Michael Shopa testified that he purchased 1/8-ounce amounts of drugs from Hallgren once or twice a month during a two-year period, and that on those occasions he witnessed Hallgren in possession of several other 1/8-ounce bags of methamphetamine. Natasja Brech told law enforcement that she had obtained a little more than an ounce of methamphetamine from Hallgren during a six-week period in 1995. Based on this evidence, the district court estimated that Hallgren was responsible for selling approximately one ounce of methamphetamine per month during each month of the conspiracy. Hallgren asserts that the court’s calculation was clearly erroneous because no witness testified that he [sold drugs] for every single month during the conspiracy. Hallgren misunderstands the nature of the district court’s task. No one disputes that the 1,134-gram figure was an estimate of the amount of methamphetamine Hallgren sold. But