Court Opinion

ID: 9484105
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:40:45.407831+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:50:01.421605
License: Public Domain

BOGGS, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I agree with the court’s analysis of the necessity for the district court to state its reasons for making the sentence consecutive to, rather than concurrent with, the previous sentence imposed upon him in federal district court in Michigan. I therefore concur in the judgment of the court remanding this case for resentencing.
However, I think the court’s opinion concerning the value of drugs is overly stringent, particularly in this case. I start with the premise that factual findings in sentencing decisions are reviewed only for “clear error.” United States v. Sivils, 960 F.2d 587, 596 (6th Cir.1992). Considering the standard merely as “preponderance of the evidence” does not give sufficient deference to the expertise and scope of the district court. I do not think it is necessary for a district court to take evidence in every case on the street value of cocaine within its jurisdiction. It has plenty of opportunity to acquire information on that subject throughout its consideration of its docket.
In this particular case, the district court would have to be very wrong, indeed, for any change in the calculated value of cocaine to make any difference in the sentence imposed. There is no question that 11.44 grams can be attributed to the defendant, as well as the cocaine equivalent of $4592. Since the crucial category break occurs at 50 grams, U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(c)(6), all of the calculations boil down to whether $4592 can be considered equivalent to at least 38.56 grams of cocaine.
*256When we do the arithmetic, we find that if the value assigned is anything less than $3376 per ounce, or $119 per gram, then there is no error in the sentence. Even the most favorable testimony anywhere in the record, using a street rather than a wholesale value, which the judge is not required to do, implies a value of no more than $100 per gram. I therefore would not hold that the district court clearly erred in determining that the specific offense conduct in this case involved more than 50 grams of cocaine.