UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leslie James THOMPSON, AKA: Lester J. Thompson, Defendant-Appellant

81 F.3d 877, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2680, 96 Daily Journal DAR 4428, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 8003, 1996 WL 180210
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 17, 1996
Docket95-50162
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 81 F.3d 877 (UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leslie James THOMPSON, AKA: Lester J. Thompson, Defendant-Appellant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Leslie James THOMPSON, AKA: Lester J. Thompson, Defendant-Appellant, 81 F.3d 877, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2680, 96 Daily Journal DAR 4428, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 8003, 1996 WL 180210 (9th Cir. 1996).

Opinion

T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judge:

I

Lester Thompson pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)) and unlawful use of a facility in interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity (18 U.S.C. § 1952(a)(8)). The district court sentenced Thompson to, among other things, sixty months of incarceration. Thompson appeals the sentence imposed.

II

During the week of December 31,1993, the Winston-Salem North Carolina Police Department received an anonymous tip that an individual named “Gerald” was receiving packages of crystal methamphetamine from California. The anonymous caller further advised that the packages were being sent from California to North Carolina via Federal Express or United Parcel Service.

On January 7, 1994, a canine trained in narcotics detection alerted on a Federal Express package sent by L. Thompson of Riverside, California, to Gerald Pena of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Federal Express package was delivered to Pena on that same day and, pursuant to a state search warrant, was searched by the Winston-Salem Police Department. The search revealed the presence of approximately 149.73 grams of methamphetamine.

On November 29, 1994, an indictment was fled in North Carolina charging Thompson with possession with intent to distribute 149.9 grams of methamphetamine (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)), and the unlawful use of a facility in interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity (18 U.S.C. § 1952(a)(3)). On November 29, 1994, pursuant to Rule 20 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Thompson waived his right to trial in North Carolina and agreed to proceed with the action in the Central District of California. On December 27,1994, Thompson pled guilty to both counts of the indictment.

On March 20, 1995, Thompson was sentenced to, among other things, a sixty-month period of incarceration. Thompson appeals the sentence imposed. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 and we affirm.

Ill

A Standard of Review

The district court’s interpretation and application of the sentencing guidelines are reviewed de novo. United States v. France, 57 F.3d 865, 866 (9th Cir.1995).

B. Analysis

In September 1994, Congress enacted a “safety valve” provision to limit the applicability of statutory minimum sentences. 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f). Section 3553(f) is set forth in the sentencing guidelines at § 5C1.2. It provides that, in certain circumstances, a court shall impose a sentence pursuant to the guidelines without regard to the statutory mandatory minimum, if the court finds at sentencing that:

(1) the defendant does not have more than 1 criminal history point, as determined under the sentencing guidelines;
(2) the defendant did not use violence or credible threats of violence or possess a firearm or other dangerous weapon (or induce another participant to do so) in connection with the offense;
(3) the offense did not result in death or serious bodily injury to any person;
(4) the defendant was not an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor of others in the offense, as determined under the sentencing guidelines and was not engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise ...; and
(5) not later than the time of the sentencing hearing, the defendant has truthfully provided to the Government all informa *879 tion and evidence the defendant has concerning the offense or offenses that were part of the same course of conduct or of a common scheme or plan, but the fact that the defendant has no relevant or useful other information to provide or that the Government is already aware of the information shall not preclude a determination by the court that the defendant has complied with this requirement.

At issue in the present case is only subsection 5 of § 3553(f) and U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2.

The district court refused to apply the safety valve provision because it found that, by refusing to reveal the source of the methamphetamine involved in the ease, Thompson failed to fulfill the requirement of subsection 5 to provide the Government with all the information and evidence he had concerning the offense. The district court therefore sentenced Thompson to the mandatory minimum sentence.

Thompson argues that the district court’s interpretation of § 5C1.2(5) as requiring a defendant to provide the government with the source of the drugs in order to qualify for its provisions “is at odds with the legislative intent and erroneously confuses the purpose of the safety valve section with the purposes of the ‘substantial assistance’ section, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) and U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1.” This argument lacks merit.

1. The district court’s interpretation of U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2(5) is not at odds with the legislative intent.

The safety valve provision was enacted to ensure that mandatory minimum sentences are targeted toward relatively more serious conduct. H.R. Rep. 103^60,103d Cong., 2d Sess.1994, 1994 WL 107571. As the legislative history states, without such a safety valve, “the very offenders who most warrant proportionally lower sentences-offenders that by guideline definitions are the least culpable-mandatory mínimums generally operate to block the sentence from reflecting mitigating factors. This, in turn means that these least culpable offenders may receive the same sentences as their relatively more culpable counterparts.” Id.

In order for a defendant to be entitled to protection from the penalties of mandatory minimum sentences, Congress listed five explicit requirements that the defendant must meet. One of these requirements is that the defendant truthfully provide to the Government all information and evidence the defendant has concerning the offense. U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2(5). Although the legislative history does not assist us in interpreting the scope of subsection 5, “the plain language of the statute and its implementing guideline, as well as the scheme of the guidelines, indicate that the [district court’s] interpretation is correct.” United States v. Acostar-Olivas,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Martin Salazar
61 F.4th 723 (Ninth Circuit, 2023)
United States v. Pedro Cruz
Seventh Circuit, 2014
United States v. Cruz
581 F. App'x 557 (Seventh Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Erasmo Lemus
553 F. App'x 736 (Ninth Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Brad Fussell
549 F. App'x 659 (Ninth Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Gonzalez Cruz
455 F. App'x 753 (Ninth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Montes, Luis
Seventh Circuit, 2004
United States v. Luis Montes
381 F.3d 631 (Seventh Circuit, 2004)
United States v. Pinuelas-Sanchez
77 F. App'x 964 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Ortiz-Santiago
211 F.3d 146 (First Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Cadavid
192 F.3d 230 (First Circuit, 1999)
United States v. Espinosa
172 F.3d 795 (Eleventh Circuit, 1999)
United States v. Eduardo Jimeno-Toledo
145 F.3d 1342 (Ninth Circuit, 1998)
United States v. Martinez-Villegas
993 F. Supp. 766 (C.D. California, 1998)
United States v. Donald Fuentes
131 F.3d 149 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Francisco Alvarez
124 F.3d 213 (Ninth Circuit, 1997)
United States v. White
First Circuit, 1997

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 F.3d 877, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2680, 96 Daily Journal DAR 4428, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 8003, 1996 WL 180210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-of-america-plaintiff-appellee-v-leslie-james-thompson-ca9-1996.