United States v. Garelli

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Decided: October 3, 2016
• Docket: 15-3221-cr
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

15‐3221‐cr United States v. Garelli

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

SUMMARY ORDER

RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007 IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING TO A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.

1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second 2 Circuit, held at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, 40 Foley 3 Square, in the City of New York, on the 3rd day of October, two thousand sixteen. 4 5 PRESENT: PIERRE N. LEVAL, 6 RAYMOND J. LOHIER, JR., 7 Circuit Judges, 8 EDWARD R. KORMAN, 9 District Judge.* 10 ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ 11 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 12 13 Appellee, 14 15 v. No. 15‐3221‐cr 16 17 JASON PAUL GARELLI, 18 19 Defendant‐Appellant.** 20 ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ 21

* The Honorable Edward R. Korman, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, sitting by designation. ** The Clerk of Court is directed to amend the case caption as set forth above. 1 1 FOR APPELLEE: MICHAEL P. DRESCHER (Gregory L. 2 Waples, on the brief), Assistant United 3 States Attorneys, for Eric S. Miller, 4 United States Attorney for the 5 District of Vermont, Burlington, VT 6 7 FOR DEFENDANT‐APPELLANT: DAVID J. WILLIAMS, Jarvis, McArthur 8 & Williams, LLC, Burlington, VT 9 10 Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District

11 of Vermont (J. Garvan Murtha, Judge).

12 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED,

13 ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the judgment is AFFIRMED.

14 Defendant‐appellant Jason Paul Garelli appeals a September 29, 2015

15 judgment of the District Court (Murtha, J.) convicting him, after a guilty plea, of

16 one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and one kilogram or more of

17 heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(l) and 841(b)(l)(A). We assume the

18 parties’ familiarity with the facts and record of the prior proceedings, to which we

19 refer only as necessary to explain our decision to affirm.

20 On appeal, Garelli challenges the District Court’s decision not to redact

21 findings in his pre‐sentence report that he possessed firearms in furtherance of a

22 drug conspiracy. But there is no dispute that Garelli possessed firearms within

23 the residence from which he distributed oxycodone. Further, the District Court

2 1 was entitled to credit testimony that Garelli sent a co‐conspirator to purchase a

2 gun and used firearms to practice protecting his drug business from law

3 enforcement. Joint App’x 84–85, 103–05. Because Garelli did not demonstrate

4 that it was “clearly improbable that the weapon was connected to the drug

5 offense,” United States v. Smythe, 363 F.3d 127, 128 (2d Cir. 2004) (quoting U.S.

6 Sentencing Guidelines § 2D1.1 cmt. n.11), the District Court’s judgment was not in

7 error.

8 We have considered all of Garelli’s remaining arguments and conclude that

9 they are without merit. For the foregoing reasons, the judgment is AFFIRMED.

10 FOR THE COURT: 11 Catherine O=Hagan Wolfe, Clerk of Court