United States v. Soria-Ocampo

Defendants pleaded guilty for their roles as middlemen in a cocaine deal, 21 U.S.C. 846. The Seventh Circuit affirmed their 69-month sentences, rejecting arguments that the district court erred on the amount of cocaine the court attributed to them and their relative roles in the conspiracy and by allowing a witness to consult with his attorney during his testimony at a joint evidentiary hearing for their sentencing. The court properly determined the scope of the criminal activity the co-conspirators agreed to undertake, U.S.S.G. 1B1.3(a)(B)(i), which can include “the scope of the specific conduct and objectives embraced by the defendant’s agreement,” and “the court may consider any explicit agreement or implicit agreement fairly inferred from the conduct of the defendant and others.” The court properly considered whether the conduct of the co-conspirators was both in furtherance of the agreed criminal activity and was reasonably foreseeable to each particular defendant. The court declined to “second-guess” the district court’s evaluation of the witness’s testimony. The district court did not give great weight to that testimony in any event. View "United States v. Soria-Ocampo" on Justia Law