United States v. Sardinas

644 F. App'x 597
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMarch 25, 2016
DocketNo. 14-6523
StatusPublished

This text of 644 F. App'x 597 (United States v. Sardinas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Sardinas, 644 F. App'x 597 (6th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

CARR, District Judge.

This is an appeal challenging the district court’s application of a two-level leadership enhancement under United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) § 3B1.1(c).

[598]*598In August 2014, a jury convicted appellant, Alexei Nuñez Sardinas, of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. (R. 62, ID 188). Based on the Pre-Sentencing Report (PSR) (R. 88, ID 288-320), U.S.S.G. § 3Bl.l(c) and other factors set forth in the sentencing guidelines, the district court sentenced him to ninety-six months in prison. (R. 85, ID 283-88).

Nufiez argues the district court’s application of the U.S.S.G.- § 3Bl.l(c) enhancement was clearly erroneous. (Docs.24, 34).

For the following reasons, we affirm the district court’s judgment.

Background

Nuñez was born in Cuba, but has been a legal, permanent resident of the United States since 2011. (R. 88, ID 299, 304). Prior to this case, he had no criminal history. (Id. at 303).

Nuñez’s co-conspirator, Luis Omar Be-navides-Rodriguez, was born in Honduras. (R. 100, ID 547-48). In 2010, he was deported for entering the country illegally. He re-entered illegally in 2013, and has been living in the United States ever since. (Id.).

In January 2014, law enforcement officers began investigating Benavides’s drug trafficking activities, (R. 99, ID 414-17, 415:6-7, 480-81). Officers learned of Be-navides’s illegal conduct through a confidential informant and from telephone records linking him to the Bonilla drug-trafficking organization. (Id. at 414-17, 415:5-7, 480-81, 515-16).

Officers monitored Benavides’s movements, but never observed any drug transactions.1 (Id. at 418-19, 432). They did, however, follow him into a Louisville apartment building where they recovered a bag of trash with mail identifying Nuñez as one of the building’s occupants. (Id. at 448, 455-58).

After Benavides left the building, officers arrested him and found thousands of oxycodone pills in his car. (Id. at 440-41; R. 88, ID 301). They also found $10,200 and ledgers detailing drug transactions in his home. (R. 99, ID 468; R. 88, ID 301). Under questioning, Benavides told police Nuñez was his drug supplier. (R. 88, ID 301). Officers later found $119,000 in Nuñez’s home and ledgers in another residence detailing numerous, high-volume drug transactions. (Id. at 301-02).

A federal grand jury indicted Benavides and Nuñez for conspiring to distribute ox-ycodone. (R. 12, ID 20-22). Benavides pleaded guilty to the charge and, in exchange for a lighter sentence,2 cooperated against Nuñez, who proceeded to trial. (R. 100, ID 549-51).

During the trial, Benavides testified that Nuñez was his supplier.3 (Id. at 559). According to Benavides, the relationship began when, at his request, Nuñez “fronted” him 300 pills. (Id. at 568-69). Thereafter, over six to eight purchases, Nuñez sold him an estimated 16,000 pills at $22 per pill, which he then resold for $24 per pill. (R. 88, ID 301-02; R. 100, ID 558-59, 569). Benavides did not specify who set those prices. (R. 100, ID 559, 581).

Benavides also testified that on two occasions, he delivered pills for Nuñez to a man named Chino. (Id. at 580, 596). Be-navides did not know Chino and “never [599]*599had communications with him.” (Id.). Indeed, Benavides was unsure whether the person to whom he delivered pills actually was Chino. (Id. at 596). Benavides testified that someone — presumably either Nuñez or Chino — paid him $1,000 for every 1,000 pills he delivered. (Id. at 580-81). Benavides did not know how much Chino paid Nuñez for the pills. (Id. at 581).

The jury convicted Núñez, and a probation officer prepared a PSR for sentencing. (R. 62, ID 188; R. 88, ID 288-320).

The PSR calculated the marijuana equivalent of 16,000 pills to be 2,679.84 kilograms, resulting in a base offense level of 30. (Id. at 301-02). The district court adopted the PSR4 and, at the government’s request, enhanced Nuñez’s sentencing guideline range by two levels for directing Benavides’s activities during the conspiracy.5 (R. 97, ID 345-46, 348). The court explained:

Benavides testified that he got pills from Núñez, Núñez coordinated the buys, managed the money, managed the quantity of phis, set the prices, the method and manner of delivery. He said that he — this was all borne out and supported by not only surveillance but by Nuñez’s telephone records that there were interactions between the two. Benavides said, however, that Núñez gave him personal directions as to when, where and how to deliver the pills to the person named Chino.
Yes, it’s true that there isn’t a lot of evidence to identify Chino or to lead to his arrest or conviction, but given the standard of proof here, and given the credibility of Mr. Benavides’s testimony, which this Court found to be credible in light of all the other evidence in the case and [his] acceptance of responsibility, the Court finds that the two-point enhancement will stand and sustains the objection of the United States.

(Id. at 345-46).

The district court based its findings on Benavides’s testimony and corroborating surveillance and telephone records. (Id. at 345).

Nuñez’s resulting total offense level was 32 and his guideline range was 121 to 151 months. (Id. at 348). The district court departed downward from the guideline range because: 1) Núñez had no criminal history; and 2) the scope and breadth of his organization were limited. (Id. at 353). Accordingly, the court sentenced him to ninety-six months in prison.6 (Id.).

This appeal followed. (R. 86, ID 289).

Standard of Review

We review the district court’s sentence under an abuse-of-discretion standard. See United States v. Baker, 559 F.3d 443, 448 (6th Cir.2009). A sentence is procedurally unreasonable if the district court “fails to calculate (or improperly calculates) the Guidelines range, treats the Guidelines as mandatory, fails to consider the § 3553(a) factors, selects a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or fails to adequately explain the chosen sentence.” [600]*600United States v. Aleo, 681 F.3d 290, 298 (6th Cir.2012).

Due to the “factual nuances that a district court is better positioned to evaluate,” we review the legal conclusion that a defendant played an aggravating role under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1 under a deferential standard. United States v. Washington, 715 F.3d 975, 983 (6th Cir.2013). Thus, we review the district court’s findings of fact at sentencing for “clear error.” Baker, 559 F.3d at 448. “A factual finding is clearly erroneous when the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” United States v. Ward, 506 F.3d 468

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Bluebook (online)
644 F. App'x 597, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-sardinas-ca6-2016.