By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 1, 2013//
United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit
Criminal
Sentencing — drug quantity
The district court did not err in calculating that a drug conspiracy distributed 700 grams of heroin per week.
“This is not a situation where the defendants who were sentenced after Daniels claimed to have had only a minor role in the conspiracy. Instead, they contend that the district court incorrectly calculated the amount of heroin attributed to the entire conspiracy. But the court listened at great length to all of the additional evidence each defendant presented to contest the quantity of heroin sold by the conspiracy. For instance, Clay argued that several lab reports from the seizures of heroin sold by the DTO showed a wide range in drug purity, which suggested that the DTO did not consistently dilute all of its heroin by ‘cutting it’ seven times. But the district court did not disregard this evidence without justification. It simply found it unpersuasive given other conflicting testimony and declined to depart from the previously determined drug quantity amount. Applying its drug quantity calculation consistently among the various defendants was therefore not clearly erroneous.”
Affirmed.
10-3447, 10-3469, 10-3714, 11-1090, 11-1240, 11-1509, 11-1680 & 11-2630 U.S. v. Block
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kapala, J., Williams, J.