United States v. Michael Byers

6 F. App'x 526

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: April 24, 2001
• Docket: 98-3280
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Michael Byers pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Because he had refused to identify any of his drug suppliers or customers to the government, citing his religious and moral beliefs, the district court 1 denied his request for safety-valve relief under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)(5) and U.S.S.G. § 501.2(5), and sentenced him to 120 months imprisonment and 5 years supervised release. Byers challenges the denial on appeal.

We conclude that Byers did not satisfy the requirements for safety-valve relief, and that the district court did not clearly err in denying it. See United States v. Tournier, 171 F.3d 645, 647 (8th Cir.1999) (standard of review); United States v. Santana, 150 F.3d 860, 864 (8th Cir.1998) (defendant carries burden of demonstrating that he has truthfully provided to government all information he knows about relevant crime); United States v. Romo, 81 F.3d 84, 85 (8th Cir.1996) (to receive safety-valve relief, defendant is obligated to provide information about identities and participation of others involved in chain of distribution); cf. United States v. McQuay, 7 F.3d 800, 802-03 (8th Cir.1993) (requiring defendant to incriminate self to “reap the benefit of’ acceptance-of-responsibility reduction does not punish him for exercise of Fifth Amendment right).

Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

1 . The Honorable E. Richard Webber, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri.