United States v. Kim ( 2000 )

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 99-30962
Summary Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
VERSUS
STEVE SOKCHIN KIM,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Louisiana
USDC No. 98-CR-60029-ALL
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August 23, 2000
Before SMITH, BENAVIDES, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Steve Sokchin Kim appeals his sentence of six months’
imprisonment after pleading guilty to trafficking in counterfeit
goods. Kim argues that the district court erred in basing the
guideline sentence on the retail value of the genuine merchandise
rather than the value of the counterfeit merchandise.
Kim is correct that the guidelines require value for
sentencing purposes to be determined by the value of the
counterfeit items. U.S.S.G. § 2B5.3; United States v. Kim, 963
F.2d 65, 68 (5th Cir. 1992). However, the guideline does not
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent
except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
R. 47.5.4.
No. 99-30962
-2-
mandate how that determination is to be made. In Kim, this court
noted that the court need only make a reasonable estimate of the
value, given the available information. Id. at 69.
The district court’s determination that the retail value of
the counterfeit items should be based on one-half of the retail
value of the genuine items is not an unreasonable application of
the guideline and is not clearly erroneous. The district court
determined that the PSR’s estimation of the genuine retail value of
$142,730, based on information from the manufacturers, was
reliable, thus implicitly rejecting Kim’s evidence of a lower
genuine retail value, and his evidence of the counterfeit retail
value of $38,612.82, coming as it did from three persons, Kim and
the Chois, convicted of trafficking.
AFFIRMED.