Court Opinion

ID: 2963432
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-09-21 21:09:40.22655+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:02:01.957799
License: Public Domain

USCA1 Opinion

	

          June 14, 1995

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

                                 ____________________

        No. 94-2142

                                    UNITED STATES,

                                      Appellee,

                                          v.

                                    ARGERMIRO AYA,

                                Defendant, Appellant.

                                 ____________________

                                     ERRATA SHEET

            The opinion  of this court issued  on June 8,  1995 is amended  as
        follows:

            On  page 5, second line  from the bottom, change  the word "minor"
        to "minimal".

        June 8, 1995
                                [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
             
                                 ____________________

        No. 94-2142

                                    UNITED STATES,

                                      Appellee,

                                          v.

                                    ARGERMIRO AYA,

                                Defendant, Appellant.

                                 ____________________

                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                           FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

                  [Hon. Carmen Consuelo Cerezo, U.S. District Judge]
                                                ___________________

                                 ____________________

                                        Before

                                Torruella, Chief Judge,
                                           ___________
                           Selya and Lynch, Circuit Judges.
                                            ______________

                                 ____________________

            Elfrick Mendez Morales on brief for appellant.
            ______________________
            Guillermo  Gil, United  States Attorney,  Jacabed  Rodriguez-Coss,
            ______________                            _______________________
        Assistant United States Attorney,  and Jose A. Quiles-Espinosa, Senior
                                               _______________________
        Litigation Counsel, on brief for appellee.

                                 ____________________

                                 ____________________

                      Per  Curiam.    Argermiro  Aya  pleaded  guilty  to
                      ___________

            possession with intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of

            21 U.S.C.   841(a)(1).   The district court sentenced  him to

            57 months imprisonment.   On appeal  from this sentence,  Aya

            raises only one issue.  He contends that the sentencing court

            erred in reducing his  offense level by only two  levels, for

            his  role in the offense as a "minor" participant, instead of

            by four levels,  in recognition  of his role  as a  "minimal"

            participant.   See   United  States   Sentencing  Commission,
                           ___

            Guidelines  Manual,    3B1.2  (November,  1993)  ("Sentencing
            __________________

            Guidelines").  We affirm.

                                    I. Background
                                       __________

                      The  following  facts  are derived  from  the  pre-

            sentence report ("PSR") to which neither party objected.  Aya

            arrived in Puerto Rico at the Luis Munoz  Marin International

            airport  on May  14, 1994  on a  flight from Panama  City, en

            route  to   Madrid,  Spain.    U.S.   Customs  officials  had

            identified  Aya  and  two  other passengers  as  fitting  the

            profile of a narcotics  trafficker.  Custom agents separately

            stopped both  Aya and another passenger,  later identified as

            Hector R. Zamora-Velez, at  the airport in Puerto Rico.   Pat

            downs and  subsequent searches  revealed that Aya  and Zamora

            were each  wearing vests with pockets  containing packages of

            cocaine.  The cocaine found on  Aya had a net weight of 4,503

            grams or 4.5 kilograms and an average purity strength of 81%.

            The  cocaine found on Zamora had  a net weight of 4,339 grams

            and an average purity strength of 77%.

                      According to  the PSR, Zamora waived  his rights at

            the  time  of his  arrest  and stated  that  he and  Aya were

            travelling together.  He said that a few weeks earlier he had

            been approached in Colombia by an (unnamed) person  who asked

            him if he wanted  to earn $5,000.   That person provided  Aya

            and Zamora with passports, airline tickets and a small amount

            of cash.  The two allegedly obtained the cocaine and vests in

            Panama, where they  boarded the plane  for Spain, via  Puerto

            Rico.  Aya, in a later conversation with a probation officer,

            also stated  that he was  going to  be paid  $5,000 upon  the

            delivery  of the  drugs in  Spain.   He  claimed that  he had

            agreed  to smuggle the drugs  because he needed  the money to

            pay his father's medical bills.

                      A  two-count indictment charged Aya with possession

            with  intent to  distribute  approximately 5.1  kilograms  of

            cocaine  (Count  One)  and  importing the  same  quantity  of

            cocaine (Count  Two).   After initially pleading  not guilty,

            Aya  changed his plea  to guilty on Count  One, pursuant to a

            plea  agreement  entered  on  July 26,  1994,  in  which  the

            government  agreed to move for  dismissal of Count  Two.  The

            parties  also agreed  to  stipulate that  Aya was  personally

            responsible for  the possession with intent  to distribute of

            4.5 kilograms of cocaine.

                                         -4-

                      A  PSR  was prepared,  recommending a  base offense

            level of 30 and a reduction of three levels for acceptance of

            responsibility and two  levels for Aya's role  in the offense

            as a  "courier". See  U.S.S.G.    3B1.2(b)  (providing for  a
                             ___

            decrease  of  two levels  where  the  defendant is  a  "minor

            participant").   The total offense level of 25 and a criminal

            history category of I yielded a guideline sentencing range of

            57 to 71 months.  There were no objections to the PSR.

                      At  the  sentencing  hearing,  the  district  court

            denied defendant's request for a four-level reduction for his

            role  as a "minimal" participant in the offense.  The reasons

            given,  if any,  are  not included  as  part of  the  record.

            (Apparently, a  transcript of the sentencing  hearing was not

            prepared.)  The sentencing court adopted the factual findings

            and guideline application in the PSR, however, which included

            a finding  that Aya's  role was as  a courier.   Although the

            statutory  mandatory minimum  sentence  was five  years,  the

            district court agreed with  defendant and the government that

            Aya  met the criteria under 18 U.S.C.   3553(f).1  Therefore,

            the court imposed a prison sentence of 57 months. 

                                
            ____________________

            1.  Section 3553(f) provides that a Guideline  sentence below
            the  statutory minimum may be imposed  for defendants with no
            more than 1 criminal history point, if certain other criteria
            are also met.

                                         -5-

                                   II. Discussion  
                                       __________

                      Section 3B1.2 of the Sentencing Guidelines provides

            for reductions in a defendant's  offense level based upon his

            role in the offense: a decrease of 4 levels if  the defendant

            was a "minimal participant" and a decrease of 2 levels if the

            defendant  was  a "minor  participant."    Commentary to  the

            Sentencing Guidelines provides that "[t]he determination of a

            defendant's role in the offense is to be made on the basis of

            all conduct  within the  scope of  1B1.3  (Relevant Conduct),

            i.e., all  conduct included under   1B1.3(a)(1)-(4), and  not
            ____

            solely on the  basis of elements and acts cited  in the count

            of conviction." U.S.S.G.   3B1 (introductory commentary).  In

            the  commentary  to    3B1.2,  the  four-level reduction  for

            minimal participation is explained as follows:

                      It  is intended  to cover  defendants who
                      are  plainly among the  least culpable of
                      those   involved  in  the  conduct  of  a
                      group.. . . 

                      It   is   intended   that  the   downward
                      adjustment for a minimal participant will
                      be  used  infrequently.    It   would  be
                      appropriate, for example, . . . in a case
                      where  an individual  was recruited  as a
                      courier    for    a   single    smuggling
                      transaction involving a  small amount  of
                      drugs.

            A two-level reduction  for "minimal"  participation is  meant

            for  a participant  "who  is less  culpable  than most  other

            participants,  but  whose  role  could not  be  described  as

            minor." U.S.S.G.   3B1.2 (commentary).

                                         -6-

                      The defendant has the burden of proving entitlement

            to  a downward adjustment pursuant to   3B1.2.  United States
                                                            _____________

            v. Munoz, 36 F.3d  1229, 1238 (1st Cir. 1994),  cert. denied,
               _____                                        _____ ______

            __ U.S. __, 115 S. Ct. 1164 (1995).  This  court has recently

            emphasized  that  "[r]ole-in-the  offense determinations  are

            innately  fact-specific.     The   court  of   appeals  must,

            therefore, pay careful heed to the sentencing judge's views."

            United  States v. Rostoff, No.  93-1376, slip op.  at 29 (1st
            ______________    _______

            Cir. April 24, 1995)  (citation omitted).  "Absent a  mistake

            of  law, a district court's finding as to whether a defendant

            was a minor or  minimal participant will be reversed  only if

            clearly erroneous." United States v. Neal, 36 F.3d 1190, 1211
                                _____________    ____

            (1st Cir. 1994).  

                      Aya argues that his role in the offense was that of

            a  mere  courier,  a  role  that  he  argues  is  necessarily
                                                              ___________

            "minimal."    This court  has  twice  directly rejected  that

            argument.  In United States v. Lopez-Gil, 965 F.2d 1124, 1131
                          _____________    _________

            (1st Cir.  1992), we  held that "a  defendant who  is a  drug

            courier is not  entitled as  of right to  a reduction of  the

            offense  level as a minimal or minor participant."  Lopez-Gil

            was  arrested at  the same  airport in  Puerto Rico,  also en
                                                                       __

            route   to  Spain,  carrying  suitcases  containing  cocaine.
            _____

            Although the district court determined that Lopez-Gil "'acted

            as a  courier and apparently  had no proprietary  interest in

            the cocaine  as such,'" it refused  to grant him even  a two-

                                         -7-

            level reduction  for minor involvement. Id.  at 1126 (quoting
                                                    ___

            sentencing court).    Nonetheless, this  court  affirmed  the

            sentence. Id. at 1131.
                      ___

                      Lopez-Gil cited to this Court's holding to the same
                      _________

            effect in United  States v. Paz Uribe, 891 F.2d 396, 399 (1st
                      ______________    _________

            Cir. 1989) ("[E]ven if the court had  found that Paz was only

            a courier,  he  would  not automatically  be  entitled  to  a

            reduction."), cert. denied, 495 U.S. 951 (1990).  Under these
                          _____ ______

            circumstances,  the district  court  did not  clearly err  in

            sentencing  Aya   as  a  "minor"  rather   than  a  "minimal"

            participant. 

                      Appellant's  sentence is  therefore affirmed.   See
                                                          ________    ___

            Loc. R. 27.1.

                                         -8-