United States v. Adolph Spears, Sr.

824 F.3d 908, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 10020, 2016 WL 3094400
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 2, 2016
Docket13-30253
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 824 F.3d 908 (United States v. Adolph Spears, Sr.) 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 v. Adolph Spears, Sr., 824 F.3d 908, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 10020, 2016 WL 3094400 (9th Cir. 2016).

Opinions

Dissent by Judge TASHIMA

OPINION

BEA, Circuit Judge:

This appeal challenges a district court’s denial of a motion to modify a sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2). Appellant Adolph Spears, Sr. was' convicted of various crimes in 2001 based on his involvement in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment. In 2013, Spears filed the instant motion seeking a reduction of his sentence. His argument was based on an amendment to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines that increased the quantity thresholds for crack cocaine offenses. In some cases, the amendment would have the effect of yielding a more lenient sentence for offense conduct involving a given quantity of crack ■cocaine. The district court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to .modify Spears’ sentence because the amended Guidelines table would still yield a Guidelines range of life imprisonment. It denied Spears’ motion. For the reasons stated below, we agree that the court lacked jurisdiction to modify Spears’ sentence. We affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Trial

Spears and several co-defendants were charged with conspiring to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute powder cocaine and crack cocaine, [910]*910in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846, and with other crimes. Count 1 of the eighth superseding indictment charged certain of Spears’ co-conspirators with driving loads of powder cocaine from California to Portland, Oregon, where it was manufactured into crack cocaine and distributed. Among other vehicles, the co-conspirators allegedly used on multiple occasions a Cadillac Eldorado with hidden compartments to transport the cocaine. According to the indictment, one of these trips occurred in November 1997, when some of Spears’ co-conspirators arranged for approximately 11 kilograms of powder cocaine to be driven from Fresno, California to Portland. Count 1 charged Spears with possessing this particular shipment of cocaine jointly with several co-defendants. The case was tried to a jury before Judge Ancer L. Haggerty. On December 7, 2000, the jury returned a guilty verdict on Count 1, and on other counts not relevant to this appeal.

B. Sentencing

The Presentence Report (“PSR”) stated that the conspiracy involved transporting multi-kilogram loads of powder cocaine from California to the Portland area. Once the cocaine arrived in Portland, various members of the conspiracy “cooked” it into crack cocaine.1 According to the PSR, one kilogram of powder cocaine yielded a slightly greater quantity of crack cocaine. The PSR described several overt acts of the conspiracy, including transportation of the 11-kilogram load of powder cocaine in November 1997. The PSR attributed ownership of the 11-kilogram load to Spears and two other co-conspirators.

In calculating Spears’ base offense level, the PSR stated that Spears’ relevant offense conduct included “more than 1.5 kilograms of [crack] cocaine.” This statement reflected the drug quantity table in effect at the time of Spears’ sentencing. The table assigns a base offense level based on the identity and quantity of drugs involved in the offense. The maximum base offense level provided for is level 38. At the time of Spears’ sentencing, offense level 38 was triggered by 1.5 kilograms or more of crack cocaine. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2Dl.l(c) (2000). The PSR added 2 levels because the conspiracy involved dangerous weapons, and it added 4 levels because Spears acted as a leader in the conspiracy. Thus, the PSR calculated a total offense level of 44.

The PSR calculated a criminal history category of IV. Category IV, combined with offense level 44, yielded a Guidelines “range” of life imprisonment.

Spears objected to several portions of the PSR in a letter to the U.S. Probation Office. As is relevant here, Spears objected to the PSR’s determination that his conduct involved more than 1.5 kilograms of crack cocaine. According to the letter, “[t]here is no evidence that Mr. Spears ever possessed or distributed [crack] cocaine.” Spears objected to the PSR’s statement that the 11-kilogram load of powder cocaine in the Cadillac belonged to him. He argued that his offense level calculation should be based on only a particular series of transactions in which Spears bought a total of 5 to 15 kilograms of powder cocaine from two other co-conspirators. Spears did not dispute the PSR’s assertion that one kilogram of powder cocaine yielded a slightly greater quantity of crack cocaine.

Judge Haggerty held a sentencing hearing on May 7, 2001. Spears’ attorney argued that Spears was not responsible for [911]*911any quantity of crack cocaine. The attorney argued that the trial evidence did not establish that Spears was involved in cooking powder cocaine into crack cocaine. Furthermore, he argued that Spears was not involved in trafficking cocaine from Fresno to Portland, and that Spears had no connection to the 11-kilogram load of powder cocaine in the Cadillac. The court rejected these arguments. Judge Haggerty said “[a]s to the objections by [Spears’ counsel], I think I have to resolve all of those against you.” The court found that “overwhelming evidence” supported the assertion that Spears’ relevant offense conduct in the conspiracy involved “manufacturing] in excess of one and a half kilograms of crack cocaine.” Consistent with the PSR, the court calculated a base offense level of 38. It also adopted the deadly weapon and leadership enhancements, and criminal history category IV. As to Count 1, the court sentenced Spears to life imprisonment.

The court issued a written Findings of Fact order on May 14, 2001. The order specifically addressed counsel’s objection to the PSR’s ultimate conclusion that Spears’ relevant conduct included more than 1.5 kilograms of crack cocaine. The court answered the objection by stating that “[t]he court finds that the trial evidence showed that the defendant had an interest in the 11 kilos of cocaine that was charged in Count 1.” Furthermore, the court also found “that all other uncontro-verted facts contained in the Presentence Report” were “true and accurate.” Finally, the court wrote that “[o]ther than those paragraphs previously amended, clarified or adjusted; or upon which no finding is necessary; the court adopts the presen-tence report ... as its own findings and conclusions.”

Spears appealed his conviction in an earlier proceeding. We affirmed: United States v. Spears, 60 Fed.Appx. 671 (9th Cir. 2003).

C. Motion to Reduce Sentence

Amendment 750 to the Sentencing Guidelines raised the quantity thresholds for certain offenses involving crack cocaine. U.S.S.G. app. C, amd. 750 (2011). The Sentencing Commission made this amendment retroactive in 2011. Id. amd. 759. Under the amended drug quantity table in the 2012 Sentencing Guidelines, the maximum base offense level of 38 is triggered for crack cocaine offenses only if the conduct involves at least 8.4 kilograms of the drug. U.S.S.G. § 2Dl.l(c) (2012). This represents a significant increase from the 1.5 kilogram threshold that applied at the time of Spears’ sentencing.

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824 F.3d 908, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 10020, 2016 WL 3094400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-adolph-spears-sr-ca9-2016.