Court Opinion

ID: 9486855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:02:31.638656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:58.560589
License: Public Domain

WINTER, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I concur in the affirmance of the conviction. I dissent from the remand for resen-tencing. I do not agree that Application Note 1 is inconsistent with former United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual, § 2D1.4 (Nov.1991). Application Note 1 provides sensible evidentiary guidance to determine for sentencing purposes the applicable quantity in cases in which negotiations occur but a buy does not result. There is nothing invalid in such guidance, and I cannot agree with my colleagues that, to prove the applicable quantity for sentencing purposes, the government must show more than the quantity under negotiation and an intent or capability to produce that quantity. In particular, I do not agree that the government must identify particular co-conspirators as having agreed to supply the precise negotiated amount. I believe, however, that under Application Note 1 the government must prove intent or capability to produce the negotiated amount once intent and capability are put in issue. In the instant matter, Hendrickson’s intent to import 50 kilograms of heroin was established by overwhelming evidence.
I
Former U.S.S.G. § 2D1.4 provided in pertinent part: “If a defendant is convicted of a conspiracy ... to commit any offense involving a controlled substance, the offense level shall be the same as if the object of the conspiracy ... had been completed.” The relevant statutes require only that the jury find that the conspirators agreed to possess with intent to distribute a quantity in excess of designated minimum amounts. 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(l)(A)(i), 846 (1988). The jury is not asked to identify precise amounts in excess of those minimum amounts. United States v. Campuzano, 905 F.2d 677, 679 (2d *343Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 947, 111 S.Ct. 363, 112 L.Ed.2d 326 (1990). Before sentencing, therefore, “the object of the conspiracy” found by the jury will be a quantity that is undetermined except that it is greater than a designated minimum.
A determination of the precise quantity of narcotics involved is thus relevant only for sentencing purposes, in particular to determine the base offense level. United States v. Moore, 968 F.2d 216, 224 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 480, 121 L.Ed.2d 385 (1992); United States v. Madkour, 930 F.2d 234, 237 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 308, 116 L.Ed.2d 251 (1991).
Application Note 1 deals with that determination in cases where negotiations have occurred but a distribution has not taken place. It provides in pertinent part:
If the defendant is convicted of an offense involving negotiation to traffic in a controlled substance, the weight under negotiation in an uncompleted distribution shall be used to calculate the applicable amount. However, where the court finds that the defendant did not intend to produce and was not reasonably capable of producing the negotiated amount, the court shall exclude from the guideline calculation the amount that it finds the defendant did not intend to produce and was not reasonably capable of producing.
Application Note 1 thus indicates that the quantity under negotiation as reflected in the evidence at trial should determine the base offense level for sentencing purposes, subject to the intent and capability qualification. We are instructed by the Supreme Court to treat commentary to the Guidelines as an agency interpretation of its own regulations. Application Note 1 is therefore binding upon us unless plainly erroneous or inconsistent with former Section 2D1.4. Stinson v. United States, — U.S. -, -, 113 S.Ct. 1913, 1919, 123 L.Ed.2d 598 (1993).
Application Note 1 is clearly valid under that test. It suggests nothing that is not dictated by common sense. Based entirely or in part on the evidence of the negotiations, the jury has already convicted the defendant of a conspiracy to distribute controlled substances in quantities in excess of the designated minimum. For sentencing purposes, the negotiations may be presumed to reflect the defendant’s intentions regarding quantities and thus the degree of his or her culpability. However, to protect defendants who may be engaged in what the Commentary to the pertinent provisions calls “puffing,” United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual app. C, amd. 136 (Nov.1991), Application Note 1 states that where the defendant’s intent and capability to produce the negotiated quantity is negated (more on the burden of proof infra), the quantity negotiated loses its presumptive weight.
My colleagues decline to follow the common sense guidance of Application Note 1, find it inconsistent with former Section 2D1.4, and hold that the government must prove a specific agreement among particular conspirators to provide the precise quantity that determines the base offense level.1 In their view, negotiations alone do not suffice to prove the relevant quantity, and the government must show at sentencing either “a plan for acquiring, the means of obtaining, or access to disputed quantities of drugs” among the conspirators. However, it is not enough to show even that a defendant who has negotiated a particular quantity is aetual*344ly able to produce that quantity because “a defendant’s ability to produce specified quantities is not dispositive of the issue of his or her agreement to produce such amounts.” Rather, “sentencing courts must not simply end the analysis at the discussion stage, but must further examine whether the defendant and his co-conspirators took any action toward producing the contested amounts, such as seeking financing, making arrangements for delivering the drugs, or contacting suppliers to procure such narcotics.” Because negotiations over a particular amount together with a capability to produce the amount negotiated are not enough in my colleagues’ view to prove that the quantity negotiated was a goal of the already proven conspiracy, the government’s burden at sentencing is heavy indeed, and, in many cases perhaps insurmountable. It is in the nature of uncompleted buys that some details will be lacking, particularly where foreign suppliers are involved. To hold, as my colleagues do, that negotiations are of little weight in determining the applicable quantity for sentencing purposes will unnecessarily allow defendants who are by common sense standards highly culpable to escape well-deserved sentences.
What is distressingly wrong with my colleagues’ position is that it ignores that a conviction for conspiracy has already been rendered and that negotiations viewed against the background of that conviction are highly rehable evidence of a convicted defendant’s intentions with regard to the distribution of particular quantities of narcotics. The conviction ensures that the conspiracy existed and that the negotiations were in furtherance of it. The negotiations are direct admissions by the defendant as to his intentions with regard to the quantities intended to flow from the conspiracy’s activities. Such admissions ought to be determinative of such quantities for sentencing purposes absent evidence, as Application Note 1 provides in the conjunctive,2 United States v. Howard, 998 F.2d 42, 50-51 (2d Cir.1993), that the defendant neither intended nor had the capability to produce such quantities. My colleagues reject this common sense approach by failing to take into account the fact that Hendrickson has been convicted. Indeed, much of the easelaw relied upon for placing this burden on the government at sentencing are not sentencing cases at all but rather decisions relating to the sufficiency of the evidence of the crime of conspiracy, an issue settled before sentencing.
Notably, Hendrickson does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence underlying his conviction. Hendrickson thus had been adjudicated to be a member of a narcotics conspiracy, and it was not necessary for Judge Johnson to make any further findings regarding the existence of that conspiracy or the identity of the conspirators at sentencing. What the judge had to find was the quantity of narcotics Hendrickson intended to import as reflected in his negotiations with York or in other transactions. If at any time Hen-drickson intended to import 50 kilograms, then the base offense level was correctly determined.
II
With regard to the burden of proof as to intent and capability under Application Note 1, I am at a loss as to why my colleagues even address the question. If Application Note 1 is inconsistent with Guidelines Section 2D1.4, and the. government must prove at sentencing that particular co-conspirators agreed to produce the particular quantity in question, no burden of proof arises with regard to Application Note l’s qualification concerning intent and capability.
Because I do not agree that Application Note 1 is invalid, I will briefly address the burden of proof issue. It might well have been sensible for the Sentencing Commission to impose the burden of showing the lack of intent and capability on the defendant. The defendant is surely in a superior position to produce evidence concerning the absence of those factors. However, the Sentencing Guidelines purport to be a comprehensive code, and courts should be reluctant to adopt a rule shifting the burden of proof absent *345some support in the text. I would, therefore, agree that intent and capability must be shown by the government. However, I also believe that evidence, of a negotiated quantity is prima, facie evidence of intent and capability and that, assuming evidence already in the record does not raise a doubt as to those matters, the defendant must bear the burden of producing evidence that puts the matter in issue, although the ultimate burden of persuasion remains with the government.
Ill
With regard to the facts in the instant matter, Hendrickson was an international narcotics dealer with contacts in Nigeria, Bermuda, Thailand, and the United States. Hendrickson sold samples of high-purity heroin to government informants and planned to buy a speedboat to be used in smuggling narcotics. Hendrickson conspired in the narcotics dealing activity of several other individuals, among them Sunday Phillips, Balo-gun (whom he introduced to York), Uchanna-ya (whom he also introduced to York), a man named “Tony,” and his own brother, Mark Hendrickson. My colleagues stress that Hendrickson did not produce more than 77 grams of heroin in his dealings with York. Tellingly, however, Hendrickson indicated that one planned sale to York failed because a courier had been arrested. This arrest is confirmed in the record.
Hendrickson’s negotiations with York, other government informants, and Hendrick-son’s brother Mark, demonstrated his knowledge of the details of international narcotics smuggling. Hendrickson identified himself as “a veteran in the business” of multi-kilo-gram heroin smuggling, and explained his expertise by stating, “I’ve spent the time and the energy and the research and trial and error so I know what it take[s] and how to cut it too.”
The plan to import narcotics by private plane from Nigeria was only one of many operations in which Hendrickson was involved. Hendrickson was already part of an “ongoing operation [that] holds about one a week,” i.e., a conspiracy to import heroin in weekly one-kilogram loads. However, Hen-drickson expressed frustration with this arrangement because of its gradual nature and affirmed his intention to “Go big and that’s it.” Hendrickson thus repeatedly emphasized the desirability of importing a large amount of heroin in a single trip and his ability to arrange for such a shipment.
Turning specifically to the plan to import 50 to 60 kilograms from Nigeria, Hendrick-son sought out York because he was a pilot who was believed to be willing to fly a large shipment of heroin from a source location to the United States. In their first conversation, Hendrickson discussed the logistics of transporting more than 50 kilograms of heroin by plane, analyzing specifications for an appropriate aircraft, the best route, and the location of refueling stops. He negotiated a price for York’s transporting the heroin and discussed the financing at length, referring to his experience with banking arrangements in his ongoing importation conspiracy in Bermuda. It should be emphasized that Hen-drickson did not seek out York as a purchaser but as a pilot. If Hendrickson did not intend to carry out the Nigerian deal, there was no reason to contact York.
At no time in the initial conversation did Hendrickson express misgivings or doubts about the 50 kilogram deal. He said he had “a standing invitation” in Nigeria and suggested that his Nigerian contact might well want to transport more than 50 kilograms.3 He reassured York that “I have people who, *346who will put up the money up front what ever you want” and ended the conversation by agreeing with York that “we have our deal.”
At all subsequent times and notwithstanding difficulties, Hendrickson remained committed to the 50 kilogram scheme. Describing a conversation with the Nigerian contact, Hendrickson stated, “I told him what I wanted.... I wanted fifty [kilograms of heroin] and he said that’s no problem.” Questions later arose about the timing of the Nigerian deal, but Hendrickson’s commitment remained firm, although he did not view the Nigerian scheme as excluding smaller narcotics deals. Even after expressing his concern that “[y]ou have to braid for” a 50-kilogram operation, Hendrickson insisted that “everything is set” and, referring to a recent trip to Nigeria, stated, “I’m saying it’s green light, and that’s that. I’ve been there. All the plans are made. I’ve seen the operation, know where it’s gonna go, everything.”
By any common sense standard, Hendrick-son’s own words overwhelmingly reflect his intention to import 50 to 60 kilograms of heroin. He was already an experienced international narcotics smuggler who was looking for a big kill. His very contacting of York and statements in the first conversation alone demonstrate his intent beyond any reasonable dispute. Difficulties were encountered — perhaps because Balogun developed suspicions concerning York — but the existence of that intent at any point during the conspiracy period is sufficient to establish 50 kilograms as the applicable quantity regardless of later events. See Howard at 51. (In my view, Hendrickson intended to carry out the 50 kilogram deal up to his arrest. His concessions of difficulties were generally accompanied by statements of his intent to pursue the deal.) Hendrickson’s capability to carry out the deal is a closer issue, because it was contingent upon other factors. However, under Application Note 1, intent alone suffices to establish the applicable quantity. See Note 2, swpra, and accompanying text.
Therefore, I would not remand. The district judge gave no indication that he believed Hendrickson bore the burden of proof on any issue, and his findings, specifically based on the face value of Hendrickson’s statements, were not clearly erroneous. In fact, they were entirely correct. I would affirm the conviction and the sentence.

. My colleagues' decision is somewhat ambiguous as to whether they believe that there was no proof of anyone conspiring with Hendrickson to distribute 50 kilograms or no proof of a specific conspiratorial agreement between Hendrickson and a supplier with regard to the negotiated amount. Certainly, there is evidence that Mark Hendrickson conspired with appellant with regard to 50 kilograms, or so the district court could have found. Mark was present at the initial conversation with York. This was no chance meeting but occurred by appointment for the specific purpose of arranging transportation for the drag deal. Mark participated in the conversation on at least three occasions and, significantly, referred to York as “our pilot.” I do not belabor this point because the logic of my colleagues’ position as reflected in the quotations in the text following this note is that the requisite co-conspirator must in the present circumstances be a supplier rather than a distributor. For example, finding that Mark was a co-conspirator would not show "a plan for acquiring, the means of obtaining, or access to” drugs or "action toward producing the contested amounts.”

. The requirement that both intent and capability be lacking stems from the Commission’s purpose to mitigate for "puffing.” A defendant who either intends or is capable of producing the negotiated amount is not "puffing” but is culpable for that amount.

. I do not agree with my colleagues' interpretative gloss that, in his first conversation with York, Hendrickson suggested everything was tentative. It is true that Hendrickson said that his Nigerian contact was “not used to this kind of international thing." However, in that regard the transcript reads as follows:
Hendrickson: You see, when I go to him, he’s not used to this kind of international thing, all right? When I go to him and I tell him about what I have you understand?
York: Yeah.
Hendrickson: He's going to right off, if I want fifty for myself, he gonna’ wonna’ as I figure he will want to put another fifty or sixty for himself.
Also, the stated need for the Nigerian to "verify" something was an observation that the contact would want to meet with York.