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Sentencing Guidelines

By: Derek Hawkins//September 15, 2017//

Sentencing Guidelines

By: Derek Hawkins//September 15, 2017//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Michael R. Moreno

Case No.: 15-3312

Officials: WILLIAMS and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges, and CHANG, District Judge

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines

Alpha‐PVP is a designer drug that produces a powerful stimulant effect in its users. This effect, plus the drug’s high potential for abuse, landed Alpha‐PVP on the federal government’s Schedule I of controlled substances. Michael Moreno pled guilty to importing Alpha‐ PVP from China and dealing the drug in northwestern Wisconsin. He now appeals the 80‐month prison sentence imposed by the district court for that drug trafficking. Specifically, Moreno argues that the district court assigned the wrong offense level to Alpha‐PVP when calculating the Sentencing Guidelines range. Alpha‐PVP is not specifically listed in the Sentencing Guidelines drug‐quantity tables, so the Guidelines required the district court to determine the “most closely related” controlled substance, U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, appl. n.6, and then use that drug’s offense level for Alpha‐PVP. After holding an evidentiary hearing, the district court found that the most closely related drug is methcathinone, which is another Schedule I controlled substance. Although we have a different take than the district court on the legal question of how to apply the pertinent Guideline, we affirm because the district court’s careful and thorough factual finding was correct.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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