United States v. Stevens ( 2021 )

Case: 20-60613 Document: 00515811345 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/07/2021
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
No. 20-60613 April 7, 2021
Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
United States of America,
Plaintiff—Appellee,
versus
Matthew Stevens,
Defendant—Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Mississippi
USDC No. 1:19-CR-64-3
Before Davis, Stewart, and Dennis, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
Matthew Stevens pleaded guilty, pursuant to a written agreement, to
possession with intent to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and
aiding and abetting. The district court held Stevens accountable for 11,211
kilograms of converted drug weight, varied downward from the guidelines
*
Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 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opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited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 Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 20-60613 Document: 00515811345 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/07/2021
No. 20-60613
range, and sentenced Stevens to 108 months of imprisonment and to five
years of supervised release. Stevens has appealed, challenging the district
court’s drug quantity calculation.
We review the district court’s interpretation and application of the
sentencing guidelines de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. United
States v. Lord, 915 F.3d 1009, 1017 (5th Cir. 2019). The district court’s drug
quantity calculation is a factual determination that this court will not set aside
“unless it was implausible in light of the whole record.” United States v.
Kearby, 943 F.3d 969, 974 (5th Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 2584 (2020).
Stevens argues that the district court erred in calculating the amount
of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) he was accountable for because the Drug
Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) test results lacked sufficient indicia of
reliability. The DEA’s lab reports reflected that the gummies and vape
cartridges attributable to Stevens contained mixtures that included THC.
The findings of a lab report are generally considered to have sufficient indicia
of reliability for consideration at sentencing. United States v. Dinh, 920 F.3d
307, 313-14 (5th Cir. 2019). In the absence of rebuttal evidence, the district
court was free to extrapolate the drug quantity from the representative
samples set forth in the report. See id. Further, the district court correctly
used the 1:167 converted drug weight ratio that applies to THC to compute
the quantity of drugs for which to sentence Stevens. See United States v. Koss,
812 F.3d 460, 467-69, 471 (5th Cir. 2016); U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, comment. (n.8).
Even if we assumed that the district court’s drug quantity calculation
was in error, the putative error was harmless. The district court was clear
about its reason for a downward variance and stated that even if it had erred
in the application of the Guidelines or in its calculation, it would have
imposed the same sentence. See United States v. Richardson, 676 F.3d 491,
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No. 20-60613
511 (5th Cir. 2012); United States v. Ibarra-Luna, 628 F.3d 712, 714 (5th
Cir. 2010).
AFFIRMED.
3