Court Opinion

ID: 9489281
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:11:09.168095+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:26.493688
License: Public Domain

SEYMOUR, Chief Judge,
with whom PORFILIO and HENRY, Circuit Judges, join, dissenting.
The majority bases its construction of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b) upon its determination that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453, 111 S.Ct. 1919, 114 L.Ed.2d 524 (1991), governs this case. I agree with that premise, but not with the majority’s reading of Chapman. The majority has divorced the holding in Chapman from its underlying circumstances and rationale, and has applied the holding to produce a result which in this case is directly at odds with that rationale. Because I agree with the majority of my sister circuits addressing the issue that Congress intended its reference to “mixture or substance” in section 841(b) to refer to a marketable or usable mixture, I dissent.
“Our job in construing statutes is to effectuate the intent reflected in the language of the enactment and the legislative process____” State of Colorado v. Idarado Mining Co., 916 F.2d 1486, 1494 (10th Cir.1990). Although a combination of methamphetamine and waste water fits within a dictionary definition of “mixture,” we are not required to “ ‘produce a result demonstrably at odds with the intentions of [a statute’s] *1159drafters.’ ”4 United States v. Ron Pair Enter., Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 242, 109 S.Ct. 1026, 1031, 103 L.Ed.2d 290 (1989) (quoting Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc., 458 U.S. 564, 571, 102 S.Ct. 3245, 3250, 73 L.Ed.2d 973 (1982)); see also NLRB v. Lion Oil Co., 352 U.S. 282, 288, 77 S.Ct. 330, 333-34, 1 L.Ed.2d 331 (1957). The Court said in Lion Oil Co.:
If the above words are read in complete isolation from their context in the Act, such an interpretation is possible. However, “In expounding a statute, we must not be guided by a single sentence or member of a sentence, but look to the provisions of the whole law, and to its object and policy.” Moreover, in Mastro Plastics we cautioned against accepting a construction that “would produce incongruous results.”
Id. at 288, 77 S.Ct. at 334 (quoting Mastro Plastics Corp. v. NLRB, 350 U.S. 270, 285, 286, 76 S.Ct. 349, 359, 360, 100 L.Ed. 309 (1956)) (citations omitted).
The Court in Chapman looked for Congress’ intent in both the language of 21 U.S.C. § 841 and in its legislative history. Chapman, 500 U.S. at 460-61, 111 S.Ct. at 1924-25. The Court found that “Congress adopted a ‘market-oriented’ approach to punishing drug trafficking, under which the total quantity of what is distributed, rather than the amount of pure drug involved, is used to determine the length of the sentence.” Id. at 461, 111 S.Ct. at 1925 (emphasis added). The Court said:
By measuring the quantity of the drugs according to the “street weight" of the drugs in the diluted form in which they are sold, rather than according to the net weight of the active component, the statute ... increase[s] the penalty for persons who possess large quantities of drugs, regardless of their purity. That is a rational sentencing scheme.
This is as true with respect to LSD as it is with respect to other drugs. Although LSD is not sold by weight, but by dose, and a carrier medium is not, strictly speaking, used to “dilute" the drug, that medium is used to facilitate the distribution of the drug. Blotter paper makes LSD easier to transport, store, conceal, and sell. It is a tool of the trade for those who traffic in the drug, and therefore it was rational for Congress to set penalties based on this chosen tool.
at 465-66, 111 S.Ct. at 1927-28 (emphasis added). Accordingly, the Court held that “the statute requires the weight of the carrier medium to be included when determining the appropriate sentence for trafficking in LSD.” Id. at 468, 111 S.Ct. at 1929.
In my judgment, Chapman’s recognition of Congress’ “market-oriented” approach dictates that we not treat unusable drug mixtures as if they were usable. Here, as the majority points out, defendant pled guilty under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a), (b)(l)(A)(viii) to possession of 1000 grams or more of a liquid mixture containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine with intent to manufacture methamphetamine in powder form. Defendant was not intending to market the waste water, which would have been discarded in the manufacturing process. The waste water was neither a carrier medium for the distribution of methamphetamine nor a cutting agent.
Five circuits have distinguished between usable and unusable drug mixtures in interpreting “mixture” for purposes of section 841 and U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1. See United States v. Acosta, 963 F.2d 551, 554 (2d Cir.1992) (“[E]ven though the cocaine/ereme liqueur may fall within the dictionary definition of ‘mixture,’ the legislative history convinces us that the weight of the creme liqueur must be excluded.”); United States v. Rodriguez, 975 F.2d 999, 1007 (3d Cir.1992) (“We find that the usable/unusable differentiation adopted by the Second, Sixth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, rather than the First Circuit approach, best follows the reasoning in Chapman.")-, United States v. Jennings, 945 F.2d 129, 136 (6th Cir.1991) (“[Interpreting the statute to require inclusion of the entire *1160[mixture] for sentencing in this case would both produce an illogical result and be contrary to the legislative intent underlying the statute.”); United States v. Johnson, 999 F.2d 1192, 1196 (7th Cir.1993) (“To read the statute or Chapman as requiring inclusion of the weight of all mixtures, whether or not they are usable, ingestible, or marketable, leads to absurd and irrational results contrary to congressional intent.”); United States v. Rolande-Gabriel, 938 F.2d 1231, 1236 (11th Cir.1991) (“The Court in Chapman found that a plain meaning interpretation of “mixture” does not create an irrational result in the context of LSD and standard carrier mediums; however, in the present case it would be irrational for the court to fail to distinguish between usable and unusable drug mixtures____”). See also United States v. Palacios-Molina, 7 F.3d 49, 53-54 (5th Cir.1993) (holding waste liquids in which cocaine was transported not a “mixture,” and distinguishing prior Fifth Circuit authority). But see United States v. Mahecha-Onofre, 936 F.2d 623, 625-26 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1009, 112 S.Ct. 648, 116 L.Ed.2d 665 (1991); United States v. Sherrod, 964 F.2d 1501, 1509-10 (5th Cir.1992); United States v. Beltran-Felix, 934 F.2d 1075, 1076 (9th Cir.1991). This usable/unusable distinction has been applied by two circuits in the context of methamphetamine in waste water, see Jennings, 945 F.2d 129; United States v. Newsome, 998 F.2d 1571 (11th Cir.1993), and by two circuits in the context of cocaine waste water, see Johnson, 999 F.2d 1192; Palacios-Molina, 7 F.3d 49.
This interpretation of “mixture or substance” for statutory purposes also would permit us to refer to the guideline definition and “adopt a congruent interpretation of the statutory term as an original matter.” United States v. Palacio, 4 F.3d 150, 154 (2d Cir.1993). Congress created the Sentencing Commission in 1984 and charged it with the task of “ ‘establishing] sentencing policies and practices for the Federal criminal justice system.’ ” Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36, 40-41, 113 S.Ct. 1913, 1916, 123 L.Ed.2d 598 (1993) (quoting 28 U.S.C. 991(b)(1)). Commentary promulgated by the Commission is authoritative “unless it violates the Constitution or a federal statute, or is inconsistent with, or a plainly erroneous reading of, [the relevant] guideline.” Id. at 38, 113 S.Ct. at 1915. Because of its sweeping authority and “significant discretion” in sentencing matters, Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 377, 109 S.Ct. 647, 657-58, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989), we may draw on the Commission’s interpretation of federal sentencing standards when endeavoring to reach our own interpretation of a sentencing statute.
The Sentencing Commission specifically addressed the current issue in its amended commentary to section 2D1.1 and unambiguously excluded the weight of waste water from the measurement of a “mixture or substance.” U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 comment, n. 1. The commentary provides:
Mixture or substance does not include materials that must be separated from the controlled substance before the controlled substance can be used. Examples of such materials include the fiberglass in a cocaine/fiberglass bonded suitcase, beeswax in a cocaine/beeswax statue, and waste water from an illicit laboratory used to manufacture a controlled substance.

Id.

Adopting an interpretation contrary to that of the Sentencing Commission for purposes of applying the statutory mandatory minimum will lead to unnecessary conflict and confusion. We have recognized the importance of harmonizing the statutory penalty provisions and the sentencing guidelines. See United States v. Shewmaker, 936 F.2d 1124, 1128 (10th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1037, 112 S.Ct. 884, 116 L.Ed.2d 788 (1992); see also United States v. Shorthouse, 7 F.3d 149,152 (9th Cir.1993) (“The statutory scheme of sentencing, including the [guidelines, must be construed harmoniously as a whole.”), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 1838, 128 L.Ed.2d 466 (1994). Furthermore, because the statutory mandatory minimum automatically becomes the guideline sentence when it is greater than the maximum of the applicable guideline range, see U.S.S.G. § 5Gl.l(b), allowing waste water to *1161comprise a “mixture or substance” under the statute will effectively nullify the Commission’s policy choice.5 In light of this persuasive authority, I would hold that section 841 does not include the weight of waste byproducts in the measurement of a “mixture or substance.”
In deciding to the contrary, the majority relies upon the result in Chapman while rejecting Chapman’s conclusion that this result was the necessary product of Congress’ decision to adopt “a ‘market-oriented’ approach to punishing drug trafficking.” Chapman, 500 U.S. at 461, 111 S.Ct. at 1925. The majority disregards the Supreme Court’s holding that the market approach drove Congress’ drug sentencing scheme and makes it rationally based. See id. at 465-66, 111 S.Ct. at 1927-28. When section 841(b) is examined in light of this approach, it is clear that including a usable LSD carrier medium in the definition of “mixture or substance” furthers that approach, while including methamphetamine waste water does not. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

. “Thus it is not enough for the judge just to use a dictionary. If he should do no more, he might come out with a result which every sensible man would recognize to be quite the opposite of what was really intended; which would contradict or leave unfulfilled its plain purpose.” Learned Hand, How Far Is a Judge Free in Rendering a Decision?, in The Spirit of Liberty, 103, 106 (Irving Dilliard ed., 1952).

. In establishing the Sentencing Commission, Congress “sought reasonable uniformity in sentencing by narrowing the wide disparity in sentences imposed for similar criminal offenses committed by similar offenders.” U.S.S.G. Ch. 1, Part A.3 (policy statement). In adopting the new commentary, the Commission attempted to implement this policy by eliminating highly disparate sentences for the same quantity of drugs. For example, prior to the new commentary, if a beeswax statue and an acrylic suitcase contained the same amount of cocaine
but the suitcase weighed considerably more, the defendant with the suitcase would receive a much higher sentence. Under the new commentary, the defendants would be classified in the same sentencing range. If we adopt a conflicting interpretation of "mixture or substance,” the mandatory minimum would still impose a significantly higher sentence on the defendant with the suitcase. See also Chapman v. United States, 500 U.S. 453, 458 n. 2, 111 S.Ct. 1919, 1924 n. 2, 114 L.Ed.2d 524 (1991) (detailing disparate sentences imposed under Chapman).