By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//October 1, 2013//
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
Criminal
Sentencing — drug quantity
In calculating a defendant’s drug quantity at sentencing, the district court properly included drugs sold after he was incarcerated.
“Although the district court may have focused on the reasonable foreseeability of Jose’s conduct, it cited to U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B), and found that ‘the PSR correctly finds that [Ismael] is responsible for the drugs sold by Jose Zuno after [Ismael’s] incarceration as well as the drugs found at [his] girlfriend’s residence after [he] was incarcerated,’ Sent. Tr. 14, concluding that the ‘record clearly reflects that [Ismael] remained a member of the conspiracy in spite of his incarceration,’ id. The court’s relevant conduct findings are sufficient under plain error review. Jose’s cocaine sales that occurred while Ismael was incarcerated were reasonably foreseeable to Ismael, were in furtherance of their drug distribution conspiracy, and occurred within the commission of the conspiracy. We find no clear error in the district court’s determination of the quantity of cocaine attributable to Ismael. Besides, any error in the drug quantity finding was harmless given the application of the mandatory minimum sentence. See United States v. Easter, 553 F.3d 519, 523 (7th Cir. 2009).”
Affirmed.
12-1501 & 12-2382 U.S. v. Zuno
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Der-Yeghiayan, J., Tinder, J.