United States v. Victor Vega-Montano

341 F.3d 615, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 17543, 2003 WL 21994652
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 22, 2003
Docket02-4032
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 341 F.3d 615 (United States v. Victor Vega-Montano) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Victor Vega-Montano, 341 F.3d 615, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 17543, 2003 WL 21994652 (7th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Victor Vega-Montano pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute in excess of 500 grams of mixtures containing cocaine. At sentencing, Montano contested the district court’s inclusion of three kilograms of cocaine as relevant conduct, arguing that a three-kilogram sale was not reasonably foreseeable to him as part of the conspiracy. In addition, Montano ar *617 gued that he should be granted a “safety valve” reduction in his offense level because his criminal history category overstated the seriousness of his prior criminal offenses. The district court denied both objections, but granted a two-level reduction in Montano’s offense level based on his minor role in the conspiracy and sentenced him to the statutory minimum 60 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Monta-no raises the same objections he brought before the district court, and we affirm.

Background

On June 27, 2002, Montano pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute in excess of 500 grams of mixtures containing cocaine, a charge that arose from his participation in several conversations leading up to the conspirators’ anticipated sale of up to 50 kilograms of cocaine to an undercover task officer. The conspirators’ negotiations began on September 8, 2001, when Montano and his co-defendant, Carmelo Lopez, met with an undercover officer to negotiate the sale of 60 kilograms of low quality cocaine. At that meeting, Montano told the officer that he could procure an additional 200 kilograms of cocaine, to be delivered in increments of 20 kilograms. Montano also stated that he could provide 50 kilograms of high quality cocaine, as the officer had requested. Two days after the meeting, Montano, Lopez, and another co-defendant named Carmarino Chavez met with the officer to deliver the initial 50 kilograms of cocaine. The officer provided a car to transport the drugs, but the transaction was not completed because the conspirators demanded that the officer pay for the cocaine at the time of delivery, which he could not do.

On October 1, 2001, Lopez arranged another meeting for the next day to discuss with the officer the sale of 50 kilograms of cocaine. At this meeting, Montano, Lopez, and Chavez told the officer that they would not deliver the cocaine until their supplier was given some of the money for the purchase. In response, the officer stated that he would provide an advance payment for three kilograms of cocaine once he had seen one kilogram of the cocaine. Later that day, Chavez contacted another co-defendant, Nancy Perez, who brought one kilogram of cocaine to a Chicago restaurant for the officer’s inspection in the presence of Lopez and Montano. Once the officer had inspected the cocaine, he told Perez that he would pay for the initial package of three kilograms of cocaine. Later that day, Montano and the other defendants were arrested by federal agents.

After initially pleading not guilty to the indictment, Montano withdrew his plea and entered into a written plea agreement. In the agreement, the government concluded that the anticipated three-kilogram sale of cocaine to the undercover officer resulted in a base offense level of 28. Montano, however, argued that he should be accountable for only the one kilogram that had actually been delivered, and calculated his base offense level at 26. Both Montano and the government agreed that he should receive a two-level adjustment for his minor participation in the offense and a three-level adjustment for acceptance of responsibility.

After Montano entered his guilty plea, a probation officer prepared a presentence investigation report (PSR). The PSR calculated Montano’s base offense level at 28, taking into account three kilograms of cocaine as the relevant drug quantity. The probation officer also accepted the parties’ recommendations for a two-level reduction for Montano’s minor role in the offense and a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, resulting in a total of *618 fense level of 23. In determining Monta-no’s criminal history category, the probation officer took into account a state court conviction for driving under the influence in 1997, for which Montano did not begin serving his term of supervision until 2001. The probation officer assessed one criminal history point for the offense, and two additional criminal history points because the conviction on appeal occurred while Montano was under supervision for his state court conviction. Accordingly, the probation officer determined that Monta-no’s criminal history category was II.

At sentencing, Montano made two objections to the PSR; he argued first that the drug quantity calculation was overstated because it included sales of drugs that were not reasonably foreseeable to him, and second, that the district court erred by failing to grant a “safety valve reduction” and depart from the statutory minimum sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f) and U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2, because his criminal history was overstated. The district court denied both of Montano’s objections. Judge Kocoras held Montano responsible for three kilograms of cocaine because the delivery of one kilogram made the deal sufficiently advanced to be foreseeable to all of the conspiracy’s participants. Moreover, Judge Kocoras found that Montano’s criminal history category “accurately reflects his circumstances,” and that Monta-no’s three criminal history points rendered him ineligible for a “safety valve” departure, which requires that the defendant have no more than one criminal history point. Having accepted the PSR’s recommendations, the district court determined Montano’s sentencing guideline range to be 51 to 63 months. The district court then sentenced Montano to the statutory minimum sentence of 60 months’ imprisonment and four years of supervised release.

Discussion

On appeal, Montano raises the same two arguments that he brought unsuccessfully before the district court at sentencing. First, he contends that the district court erred by holding him accountable for the uncompleted sale of three kilograms of cocaine, rather than the one kilogram that was actually delivered to the undercover officer. Second, Montano argues that the district court improperly failed to grant him a safety valve departure because his criminal history category overstated the seriousness of his prior offenses, taking into account the fact that his instant conviction occurred while he was on supervision for a prior state court sentence. Neither of these arguments has merit.

1. Drug Quantity Calculation

Montano contends that the district court erred by attributing to him three kilograms of cocaine from the uncompleted transaction with the undercover officer, because — given his lack of prior drug dealing and his limited relationship with his conspirators — the completion of the deal was not reasonably foreseeable to him. We review a district court’s findings of fact concerning the quantity of drugs for clear error. United States v. Smith, 308 F.3d 726, 745 (7th Cir.2002). For purposes of sentencing, each participant in a drug conspiracy is responsible for all drug transactions reasonably foreseeable to him. United States v. Thompson,

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341 F.3d 615, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 17543, 2003 WL 21994652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-victor-vega-montano-ca7-2003.