Campbell v. United States

28 F. App'x 365
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedDecember 26, 2001
DocketNo. 00-5813
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 28 F. App'x 365 (Campbell v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Campbell v. United States, 28 F. App'x 365 (6th Cir. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

MARBLEY, District Judge.

Defendant-Appellant, James “Jay” Campbell (“Campbell”), appeals his sentence received for conviction on three counts of conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. Campbell assigns error to the district court’s calculation of the amount of methamphetamine attributable to him for purposes of sentencing. For the following reasons, the Court AFFIRMS Campbell’s sentence.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History

On June 22, 1999, a United States Grand Jury sitting in the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga returned an eighteen-count superseding indictment charging Campbell and five codefendants with drug trafficking crimes. Count one of the indictment charged that from January 1, 1997, to March 1, 1999, Campbell, along with Michael Neely (“Neely”), Howie Ewton (“Ewton”), Jonathon Hale (“Hale”), Scott Payne (“Payne”), and Donna Bandy (“Bandy”), conspired to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. Counts seventeen and eighteen further charged Defendant with distributing methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 on October 4, 1996 and November 8, 1996, respectively. Defendant’s trial commenced on December 13, 1999, and two days later the jury found Campbell guilty on all three counts.

At sentencing, the district court determined that Campbell’s total offense level was 32, that he had a criminal history category of two, and that the imprisonment range was 135 to 168 months. Campbell was sentenced to a prison term of 146 months to be followed by five years of supervised release on count one, and three years of concurrent supervised release on counts seventeen and eighteen, for a total of five years of supervised release. He was also given a special assessment of $300.1 From his judgment of conviction Defendant filed his notice of appeal on March 30, 2000.

B. Statement of the Facts

On October 4, 1996, a confidential informant, supervised and monitored by the 12th Judicial District Drug Task Force, purchased $300 worth of what was later determined to be 3.5 grams of methamphetamine mixture from Defendant. On November 8, 1996, the same informant paid Campbell $100 for an additional 1.3 grams of methamphetamine mixture. During the course of their investigation, law enforcement determined that Campbell was involved with other individuals in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, including David McFarland (“McFarland”), Neely, Ewton, Hale, Payne, and Bandy. Various coconspirators testified at Defendant’s trial that Campbell was part of the conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine.

In 1997, Neely and Ewton were taught how to cook methamphetamine by McFarland. Thereafter, Neely cooked methamphetamine once every two weeks from the summer of 1997 until he was arrested in November 1998. Neely testified that he met Campbell through his girlfriend [367]*367around the time that McFarland and Ewton got into trouble and dropped out of the picture around November 1997. Campbell began purchasing methamphetamine from Neely shortly after they were introduced, and usually bought from Neely once or twice a week until Neely’s arrest in November 1998.2 Neely testified that he sold or “fronted” Hale and Campbell seven to fourteen grams of methamphetamine at a time.

Campbell also furnished Neely with ephedrine on three occasions, which would usually come in the form of eight bottles containing 250 tablets each. Bandy supplied Neely with the iodine, which Bandy purchased and had shipped from TriCounty Water Concepts, a water filtration firm in Geneva, Ohio. Several times, however, Bandy paid Campbell to receive the iodine after which she would take it to Neely. Tri-County’s records specifically reflect a four pound shipment of iodine to Campbell, who later supplied Neely with four pounds of iodine for use in manufacturing methamphetamine. Neely testified that he utilized a 1:1:2 ratio of ephedrine, red phosphorus, and iodine in his manufacturing method. Neely stated that he got a 60% to 70% yield from his cooks (from 50 grams of ephedrine Neely could obtain 30 grams of methamphetamine, and from 100 grams of ephedrine he could make 70 grams of methamphetamine).

After accepting the Presentence Investigation Report, the district court attributed a total of 716.8 grams of methamphetamine mixture to Defendant, and the court’s sentencing guideline calculations were based on that amount. The court used the more conservative seven grams bought every other week from November 1997 until October 1998, at fourteen grams per month for twelve months, to determine that Defendant purchased at least 168 grams of methamphetamine mixture from Neely. The court also considered the four pounds of iodine that Defendant supplied Neely, who then used it to manufacture methamphetamine, for sentencing purposes. Based on Neely’s manufacturing method, the court determined that the iodine would have produced at least 544 grams of methamphetamine mixture.3

II. DISCUSSION

A. Conversion of Crystal Iodine Claim

Campbell argues that the district court erred in sentencing Defendant by attributing an amount of methamphetamine to him that was based in part on converting a quantity of crystal iodine into methamphetamine. Defendant contends that it was error to count 544 grams of methamphetamine toward his sentencing just because Campbell allowed Bandy to have crystal iodine shipped to his address. Campbell asserts that Bandy sold this iodine to Neely who manufactured methamphetamine, and that Neely knew nothing of the arrangement between Bandy and Campbell until after the sale. Defendant claims that he did not act in concert with Neely, and that the government failed to prove how much, if any, of the iodine shipped to Campbell was used by Neely.

The district court’s calculation of the quantity of controlled substances for which a defendant is to be held accountable is a finding of fact reviewed for clear error. United States v. Berry, 90 F.3d 148, 152 (6th Cir.1996).

[368]*368A defendant may be held responsible for an amount of drugs only if the court finds that it is more likely than not that the defendant actually was responsible for at least that amount. United States v. Ward, 68 F.3d 146, 149 (6th Cir.1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1151, 116 S.Ct. 1028, 134 L.Ed.2d 106 (1996). The quantity need not be ascertained with exact certainty when no controlled substances are seized. United States v. Brannon, 7 F.3d 516, 520 (6th Cir.1993). But the approximation must be supported by competent evidence in the record. Berry, 90 F.3d at 152.

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Related

United States v. Thompson
86 F. App'x 144 (Sixth Circuit, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 F. App'x 365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/campbell-v-united-states-ca6-2001.