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00-1057 U.S. v. Adkins

By: dmc-admin//December 17, 2001//

00-1057 U.S. v. Adkins

By: dmc-admin//December 17, 2001//

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“Hummel was involved in one conspiracy to import large quantities of meth from California. That conspiracy lasted for several years, and Adkins’s involvement was limited to bringing the bulk drugs back and selling them to Tyner and Hummel. Adkins exercised no control over the drugs after Tyner and Hummel took possession of them. The second conspiracy was Adkins’s smaller-scale operation in the summer of 1992. That conspiracy involved Adkins, Tuttle, Miller, and Adkins’ other street-level dealers. Adkins’ role in that conspiracy was to supply the street-level dealers with small quantities of drugs. As evidence that the two conspiracies were separate, the government notes that Tuttle and the street-level dealers, other than Miller, had no knowledge of the large-quantity conspiracy and did not know Tyner and Hummel. Tyner and Hummel similarly were not involved in the small-quantity operation. Moreover, the small-quantity operation began as a way to dispose of the drugs that Adkins and Miller were stealing from the large-quantity conspiracy, and so the two operations were not only separate, but had conflicting interests.”

“The sales that Adkins and Tuttle made in furtherance of the small-quantity conspiracy ranged from ounce to 4 ounces of methamphetamine at a time. Taking the smaller amount to be cautious, this is about 14 grams, well below the 100-gram threshold. We note as well that even though Count 9 specifies a transaction on or about August 6, and Tuttle’s ledger shows a 4-ounce sale on that date, that evidence in itself does not necessarily show that the jury based its conviction on that alleged sale, rather than on one of the many smaller transactions that occurred around that date. The other two counts just point to distributions in November 1992, and the trial evidence was that Adkins made numerous sales that month, most of relatively small amounts.

“Because we cannot be certain that a properly-instructed jury would have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Adkins distributed at least 100 grams of methamphetamine mixture in connection with these counts, we must vacate his sentences on Counts 6, 7, and 9.”

Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Lee, J., Diane P. Wood, J.

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