Court Opinion

ID: 9483543
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:23:43.913231+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:41.080593
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Walter Johnson, a 23-year-old black male, received a guidelines sentence of 235 months, of which he will serve sixteen years and eight months. As the majority points out, he was a courier who transported 793.1 grams of crack cocaine from Los Angeles to Kansas City. He was paid $1,000 for this assignment. Johnson has a juvenile record but no prior criminal convictions as an adult. There is no evidence that Johnson’s participation was as anything other than a one-time courier.
I agree with the majority that the sentence “seems excessive,” but I do not agree that it is required by law. On the basis of the facts in this case, the district court could have given Johnson a four-level reduction as a minimal participant or a two-level reduction as a minor participant. See U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2. Had that been done, his offense level would have been 32 or 34, which combined with a two-level increase for obstruction of justice would have called for a sentence of either 151 to 188 months or 188 to 235 months. Neither the probation office nor the district judge considered whether Johnson should be given a reduction for being a minimal participant. Though this circuit has affirmed the denial of such reductions when it has found that *1300the defendant was “more than a mere courier,” United States v. Regan, 940 F.2d 1134, 1136 (8th Cir.1991), or when a significant amount of drugs is involved, see United States v. Garvey, 905 F.2d 1144, 1146 (8th Cir.1990), it has always noted that it is simply reviewing a factual determination made by the district court. In this case, no such determination was made. Thus, I would remand the case to the district court with directions to consider whether Johnson should be given a reduction as a minimal or minor participant.
This circuit, over my objection, has sustained the constitutionality of the guideline section with respect to crack cocaine. See United States v. Willis, 967 F.2d 1220, 1226 (8th Cir.1992) (Heaney, J., concurring). In this case, had Johnson transported powder cocaine, he would have had a base level of 26, which with a two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice, would have resulted in a maximum sentence of 97 months, with a mandatory minimum of five years. See U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(c)(9); 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B) (1988). I continue to believe that the Sentencing Commission has failed to provide a rational basis for the distinction between powder and crack cocaine and that the present policy is racially discriminatory.
Finally, I note that the cost to the government of incarcerating Johnson over sixteen years and eight months will be approximately $427,208.1 Surely, there are more productive ways to use this money in the war against drugs — ways that may salvage a young man and protect our citizens.

. This determination is made based on $20,000 per year at three-percent inflation per annum.
See Briefing Materials, Federal Bureau of Prisons (August 1992).