United States v. Martin Lawrence

854 F.3d 462, 2017 WL 1363803, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 6420
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedApril 14, 2017
Docket16-2056
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 854 F.3d 462 (United States v. Martin Lawrence) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Martin Lawrence, 854 F.3d 462, 2017 WL 1363803, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 6420 (8th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

MELLOY, Circuit Judge.

A jury found Martin Lawrence guilty of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, and attempt to obstruct justice. The district court 1 sentenced Lawrence to 300 months’ imprisonment. Lawrence appeals, arguing the district court improperly calculated the drug quantity attributable to him. 2 We affirm.

I.

In July 2015, Lawrence was indicted for conspiracy to distribute at least 500 grams of a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine and 50 grams of actual methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(A), and 846; and possession with intent to distribute at least five grams of actual methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B). In October 2015, the Government filed a superseding indictment, adding a charge for attempt to obstruct justice, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(b)(1), 1512(b)(2)(A), and 1512(b)(2)(C). Lawrence proceeded to trial and a jury returned a guilty verdict on all three charges.

At trial, the Government presented testimony regarding the drug quantity attributable to Lawrence, including testimony from coconspirators and from law enforcement officers involved in the investigation. Testimony from officers described a number of controlled buys from Lawrence and Kevin Ridler, a coconspirator. During a controlled buy on October 1, 2013, Ridler sold 2.54 grams of actual methamphetamine. During two controlled buys, on October 13 and October 24, 2014, Lawrence sold 25.98 grams of actual methamphetamine and 36.45 grams of actual methamphetamine, respectively. Additionally, on October 11, 2013, officers executed a search warrant at Ridler’s residence and *465 seized 28 grams of methamphetamine mixture.

Officers also testified regarding methamphetamine seized from Troy Lawrence, another coconspirator. On July 12, 2014, Troy Lawrence was stopped for a traffic violation and officers seized 6.56 grams of ice methamphetamine. On September 12, 2014, Troy Lawrence was involved in a traffic accident. Because the vehicle did not have insurance, officers impounded the car and, during an inventory search, found 28.29 grams of actual methamphetamine and 4.83 grams of methamphetamine mixture.

Finally, officers testified regarding a traffic stop of Mark Fuehrer, a third co-conspirator, on January 11, 2015. During the traffic stop, officers seized 25.58 grams of actual methamphetamine.

Ridler also testified at trial. Ridler had participated with law enforcement in the controlled buys from Lawrence. Ridler described his past drug use and his relationship with Lawrence. Specifically, Ridler testified he obtained ice methamphetamine from Lawrence for'three to four years. Ridler testified he bought ice methamphetamine from Lawrence at least 20 to 35 times, beginning with smaller quantities of a gram or two and increasing to as much as one ounce at a time. Ridler stated that he distributed ice methamphetamine for one and a half to two years and regularly used 0.5 to one gram per day during that period.

Finally, Carrie Maskewit, Troy Lawrence’s girlfriend, also testified at trial. Maskewit testified that Lawrence was Troy Lawrence’s supplier for ice methaim phetamine. Maskewit stated that Lawrence obtained methamphetamine from “Rusty” in Omaha, Nebraska. Maskewit also stated that she had observed Lawrence with half-full gallon-sized plastic Ziploc bags of ice methamphetamine. An investigator later testified that this was consistent with a pound of ice methamphetamine.

Following Lawrence’s conviction, the district court held two sentencing hearings. At the first hearing, on January 14, 2016, the court heard testimony from Daniel Grother, who had known Lawrence for a number of years and had bought a gram of methamphetamine from Lawrence on approximately six occasions. Grother testified that he had traveled with Lawrence to Omaha at least ten times in March and April 2015. During those trips, Grother stated, Lawrence would stop at Rusty’s home, where Grother observed drug activity between Lawrence and Rusty. Grother testified that over the course of those trips, he believed he observed Lawrence in possession of three to four pounds of ice methamphetamine.

Based on Grother’s testimony, the PSR attributed 1.3608 kilograms of methamphetamine to Lawrence. The PSR also attributed 424.4 grams of marijuana to Lawrence, based on marijuana seized during a search of Lawrence’s home on January 27, 2015. Finally, the PSR attributed 42.52 grams of cocaine base to Lawrence, based on a report to law enforcement by a man to whom Lawrence had sold that cocaine base. The PSR attributed a total of 27,-368.26 kilograms of marijuana equivalency to Lawrence, resulting in a base offense level of 34. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 2Dl.l(c)(3). The PSR also added a two-level enhancement based on evidence that Lawrence had attempted to obstruct justice by persuading his girlfriend to avoid being subpoenaed. Based on a total offense level of 36 and a criminal history category of IV, the advisory guidelines sentencing range was 262-327 months’ imprisonment.

The Government also calculated a total offense level of 36 but was more conser *466 vative in its drug-quantity calculation. Noting concerns regarding Grother’s credibility, the Government attributed to Lawrence only one pound of ice methamphetamine based on Grother’s testimony. The Government calculated a total drug quantity attributable to Lawrence of 23,969.28 kilograms of marijuana equivalency. In addition to the pound of ice methamphetamine based on Grother’s testimony, this calculation relied on the drugs seized during controlled buys from Ridler and Lawrence, the search of Ri-dler’s home, the traffic stop and accident involving Troy Lawrence, the traffic stop of Mark Fuehrer, the search of Lawrence’s home, and the trial testimony of Ridler and Maskewit.

At the second sentencing hearing, on April 14, 2016, the district court accepted the Government’s drug-quantity calculation. Lawrence made a number of objections at the hearing, including generalized objections to the scoring of drug quantity in the PSR, reliance on Grother’s testimony in the drug-quantity calculation, and reliance on drugs seized outside the time frame of the conspiracy. Over Lawrence’s objections, the court found that the Government had met its burden of establishing drug quantity by a preponderance of the evidence. The court noted that the findings would be the same even if Lawrence’s objections to the PSR were sustained.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
854 F.3d 462, 2017 WL 1363803, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 6420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-martin-lawrence-ca8-2017.