Court Opinion

ID: 9483100
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:11:13.857733+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:25.568066
License: Public Domain

AVERN COHN, District Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I agree with everything Judge Suhrhein-rich has written except with regard to his specific findings in Part V. Whether or not allowed by statute, I too believe it poor policy to relegate an evidentiary hearing in a dispute over the applicable guideline score to a magistrate judge for a report and recommendation. In this case the record reflects a good deal of confusion over precisely what was at issue with regard to Ushery’s relevant conduct and his role in the offenses of conviction. The evidence before the magistrate judge came only from Agent Cuthbertson. There was nothing one way or the other in his testimony to support a finding that Peterson and Sierra’s description of Ushery’s involvement in the St. Louis enterprise was credible. Ushery denied any involvement. The magistrate judge’s report and recommendation ignored Ushery’s denial in stating that “Ushery has come forward with no evidence to contradict the government witnesses.” If Ushery was an organizer, it was of an enterprise unrelated to the enterprise involved in the offenses of conviction. All of this, however, is really of little moment. If the applicable guideline range is computed without regard to the St. Louis enterprise and Ushery’s role as an organizer, because he is a career criminal his sentence must be not less than 262 months or more than 337 months. As computed by the trial judge the range is 360 months to life. In all events the trial judge could not go below 262 months. This means with a best case scenario Ushery will likely be over 60 before he is released. At that age *584there is little chance he will be any greater danger to society than at 65.