Court Opinion

ID: 9886353
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 16:00:54.6011+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:11.715776
License: Public Domain

United States Court of Appeals
                            For the Eighth Circuit
                        ___________________________

                                No. 23-1093
                        ___________________________

                             United States of America

                        lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

                                           v.

                          Anthony Howard Amundson

                      lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant
                                      ____________

                    Appeal from United States District Court
                    for the Northern District of Iowa - Eastern
                                  ____________

                         Submitted: September 19, 2023
                            Filed: October 6, 2023
                                [Unpublished]
                                ____________

Before SMITH, Chief Judge, ARNOLD and ERICKSON, Circuit Judges.
                              ____________

PER CURIAM.

      Anthony Amundson pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute 500 grams or
more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine
and 50 grams of actual (pure) methamphetamine. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A), 846.
The district court1 calculated his recommended sentencing range under the
Sentencing Guidelines as 360 months to life in prison, and the court sentenced him
to 348 months. Amundson maintains that the court clearly erred in estimating the
amount of drugs Amundson was responsible for and so miscalculated the Guidelines
range. We affirm.

      The Guidelines provide that a defendant who stands convicted of the offense
Amundson committed will receive a base offense level of 36 if he is found
responsible for between 15–45 kilograms of a mixture containing methamphetamine.
See USSG § 2D1.1(c)(2). But if the defendant is found responsible for only 5–15
kilograms of a methamphetamine mixture, then his base offense level is 34. See id.
§ 2D1.1(c)(3).

       Amundson's presentence report recommended that the court find him
responsible for 25.89 kilograms, which would place him in the higher of the two
categories mentioned. To reach that precise figure, the PSR recounted controlled buys
and statements from co-conspirators regarding the quantity of drugs Amundson
transacted. The government, meanwhile, advocated for a slightly different precise
figure of 32.07 kilograms, also in the higher category. Amundson disagreed with the
calculations.

       At sentencing the government called Amundson's ex-girlfriend to testify about
the amount of drugs she and Amundson sold. The district court found her testimony
credible, and based on her testimony, it believed Amundson was responsible for at
least 15 kilograms of a methamphetamine mixture, which is enough to put him in the
higher category.

      1
       The Honorable C.J. Williams, United States District Judge for the Northern
District of Iowa.

                                        -2-
       "We review a district court's drug-quantity finding for clear error and reverse
only when the entire record definitely and firmly illustrates that the lower court made
a mistake." United States v. McArthur, 11 F.4th 655, 659 (8th Cir. 2021) (per curiam).
Courts must often "determine drug quantity using imprecise evidence," but we will
uphold their findings "so long as the record reflects a basis for the court's decision."
See United States v. Walker, 688 F.3d 416, 423 (8th Cir. 2012).

       Amundson maintains that the district court clearly erred when it placed him in
the higher of the two categories by finding him responsible for at least 15 kilograms
of a methamphetamine mixture. He contends that he belongs in the lower category,
as the evidence showed him responsible for only 5–15 kilograms. He points out that
the indictment charged that the conspiracy ran for about a year and a half, and except
for a nearly four-month stint around the third quarter of that period, he was in state
custody. He says that he should not be held responsible for drugs sold while he was
incarcerated or by others, namely his ex-girlfriend, who sold them "outside the scope
of his involvement."

       Even if we disregarded the quantities allegedly attributable to Amundson sold
while he was in state custody, his ex-girlfriend's credible testimony supports the
district court's finding. She testified that, throughout Amundson's brief stint out of
custody, the pair was receiving two kilograms a couple times a week to distribute.
Given that Amundson was out of jail for almost four months, it was not clear error to
conclude that he was responsible for at least fifteen kilograms during this time alone,
as that's probably about what he helped distribute in just a single month. "It is
well-established that the testimony of co-conspirators may be sufficiently reliable
evidence upon which the court may base its drug quantity calculation for sentencing

                                          -3-
purposes." See United States v. Plancarte-Vazquez, 450 F.3d 848, 852 (8th Cir.
2006). We are certainly not left with a definite and firm conviction that the district
court made a mistake. See McArthur, 11 F.4th at 659.

      Affirmed.
                       ______________________________

                                         -4-