Sentencing Guidelines

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Michael T. Bostock

Case No.: 18-1897

Officials: EASTERBROOK, SYKES, and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines

Michael Bostock pleaded guilty to distributing methamphetamine and has been sentenced to 125 months’ imprisonment, which he contends is unreasonably high. The statute that forbids sales of this drug distinguishes by its purity. For example, for the purpose of selling minimum and maximum sentences, “50 grams or more of methamphetamine” is treated the same as “500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine”. 21 U.S.C. §841(b)(1)(A)(viii). The Sentencing Guidelines reflect this classification. The drug quantity table, U.S.S.G. §2D1.1(c), distinguishes among “Methamphetamine”, “Methamphetamine (actual)”, and “Ice”. Note (A) to this table says that “methamphetamine” is the weight of any mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of the controlled substance; Note (B) defines the “actual” variant as the weight of the controlled substance disregarding any contaminants or cutting agents; Note (C) defines “ice” as the weight of “a mixture or substance containing d-methamphetamine hydrochloride of at least 80% purity.” The Guidelines treat the “actual” and “ice” variants as ten times the weight of the detectable-quality variant. So, for example, §2D1.1(c)(5) provides that 500 grams to 1.49 kilograms of methamphetamine, 50 to 149 grams of methamphetamine (actual), and 50 to 149 grams of ice all produce an offense level of 30. Bostock, who concedes distributing 63.8 grams of ice, falls into this category. Given his criminal history category, the Guidelines recommended a sentence in the range of 130 to 162 months’ imprisonment.

It is not necessary to go through Bostock’s objections to the judge’s other statements. The bottom line is that she stuck with the distinction between “methamphetamine” and “ice,” as she was entitled to do. She gave Bostock an individualized sentence that depended substantially on his criminal history category of VI—the judge found him undeterrable, with crimes increasing in gravity after each release from prison—and the need to protect the community from high quality methamphetamine made in industrial laboratories in other places, which had become a plague after police managed to shut down most of the local manufacturers. Bostock should count himself fortunate, given the judge’s observations, that his sentence is below rather than above the range recommended by the Sentencing Commission.

Affirmed

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Derek A. Hawkins is a trademark corporate counsel attorney for Harley-Davidson, where he concentrates his practice on brand protection and strategy.