Court Opinion

ID: 9483018
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:07:52.862831+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:21.583592
License: Public Domain

JOHN R. BROWN, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I strongly dissent to the full court’s refusal to rehear en banc “the suitcase issue.” Although there now may be some sentiment in this court that the precedent-setting Mahecha-Onofre4 was incorrectly decided, the votes needed for the court to rehear this issue en bane are still lacking.
In my small voice, I again dissent to the failure of the First Circuit to vote to overturn its prior holding and follow the lead of the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits.5 Carrier mediums that can not be digested, inhaled or otherwise consumed, but still significantly increase the weight of the controlled substance, have no place in drastically affecting the number of years a person must serve in prison.
In this case, if upon remand the trial court finds that the substance was cocaine base, Lopez-Gil will spend approximately five6 more years in prison as a result of including the weight of the unusable, non-consumable suitcase material. Similarly, if the trial court finds that the substance was cocaine, Lopez-Gil will face about three and one-half7 more years of imprisonment if the weight of the suitcase is included.
Unfortunately, First Circuit Judges passively continue to accept the validity of Mahecha-Onofre, while district courts continue to impose longer confinements for which no real right of appeal exists since, as here, the court will find its opinion bound by Mahecha-Onofre. No longer should the court sit idly by when three, five or possibly many more years of a man’s liberty are at stake on the basis of a decision which is so materially and legally unsupported.

. In United States v. Mahecha-Onofre, 936 F.2d 623 (1st Cir.1991), we interpreted Chapman v. United States, — U.S.-, 111 S.Ct. 1919, 114 L.Ed.2d 524 (1991), to require that the weight of the suitcase material be included for sentencing purposes.

. Both the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits have held that the unusable parts of the drug mixture should not be counted in determining a defendant’s sentence. United States v. Jennings & Stepp, 945 F.2d 129 (6th Cir.1991); United States v. Rolande-Gabriel, 938 F.2d 1231 (11th Cir.1991).

. Given a weight of 14.05 kilograms of cocaine base, which includes the suitcase material, the corresponding Offense Level is 40 resulting in a minimum sentence of 292 months. If, however, only the weight of the cocaine base is used, 2597 grams, the Offense Level is 38 resulting in a minimum sentence of 235 months, a difference of about five years.

. A weight of 14.05 kilograms of cocaine corresponds to a minimum sentence of 121 months, while a weight of 2597 grams of cocaine results in a minimum sentence of 78 months, roughly a difference of three and one-half years.