Court Opinion

ID: 1001011
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 17:49:08.258319+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:45.525650
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.                                                                  No. 98-4341

JOSEPH BLACKBURN,
Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Elkins.
Robert Earl Maxwell, Senior District Judge.
(CR-97-8)

Argued: January 28, 2000

Decided: February 28, 2000

Before NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge, HAMILTON, Senior Circuit
Judge, and Frederic N. SMALKIN, United States District Judge for
the District of Maryland, sitting by designation.

_________________________________________________________________

Vacated and remanded by unpublished per curiam opinion.

_________________________________________________________________

COUNSEL

ARGUED: James R. Fox, JORY & SMITH, Elkins, West Virginia,
for Appellant. Sherry L. Muncy, Assistant United States Attorney,
Elkins, West Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: David E. Godwin,
United States Attorney, Elkins, West Virginia, for Appellee.

_________________________________________________________________
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See
Local Rule 36(c).

_________________________________________________________________

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Joseph Blackburn appeals his sentence after pleading guilty to dis-
tribution of cocaine base (crack) in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1).
On appeal, Blackburn contends, and the government readily agrees,
that information, i.e., his assisting other persons in distributing four
ounces of crack every two weeks for one year, provided by him to the
authorities after his arrest but before sentencing, was intended under
his plea agreement to be treated as information provided under U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines Manual (USSG) § 1B1.8, and, thus, not
included as relevant conduct under USSG § 1B1.3 in the calculation
of his guideline range. We agree.

Accordingly, we vacate Blackburn's sentence and remand for
resentencing without using as relevant conduct the information pro-
vided by Blackburn to the authorities after his arrest but before sen-
tencing.

VACATED AND REMANDED

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