United States v. Gonzalo Ponce-Hurtado , 583 F. App'x 595 ( 2014 )


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  •                  United States Court of Appeals
    For the Eighth Circuit
    ___________________________
    No. 14-1766
    ___________________________
    United States of America
    lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee
    v.
    Gonzalo Ponce-Hurtado
    lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant
    ____________
    Appeal from United States District Court
    for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville
    ____________
    Submitted: November 10, 2014
    Filed: November 20, 2014
    [Unpublished]
    ____________
    Before BYE, SHEPHERD, and KELLY, Circuit Judges.
    ____________
    PER CURIAM.
    Gonzalo Ponce-Hurtado pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute
    methamphetamine, in violation of 
    21 U.S.C. §§ 841
    (a)(1) and 846. The district court1
    1
    The Honorable Timothy L. Brooks, United States District Judge for the
    Western District of Arkansas.
    sentenced Ponce-Hurtado to 210 months imprisonment. Ponce-Hurtado appeals,
    arguing the district court erred in the calculation of his Sentencing Guidelines range.
    We affirm.
    From January 2012 to May 2012, a confidential informant and an undercover
    police officer purchased methamphetamine from Marceleno Pacheco-Huizar a total
    of six times. In May 2012, Pacheco-Huizar arranged a meeting between the
    undercover officer and his “boss,” Ponce-Hurtado. At the meeting, which involved
    Ponce-Hurtado, Pacheco-Huizar, and two other co-conspirators, Ponce-Hurtado asked
    the undercover officer to transport nine pounds of methamphetamine from
    Pennsylvania to Arkansas. The four co-conspirators present at the meeting inspected
    the undercover officer’s vehicle to determine whether it was capable of making the
    trip to and from Pennsylvania. Three days after this meeting, the undercover officer
    met with Pacheco-Huizar and one other co-conspirator and declined the opportunity
    to travel to Pennsylvania. The undercover officer was then put on the phone with
    Ponce-Hurtado who told the officer that there would be other opportunities to
    transport methamphetamine from closer destinations. Following this encounter, the
    undercover officer made six more methamphetamine purchases from Pacheco-Huizar.
    A grand jury returned a 17-count indictment against Ponce-Hurtado and other
    co-conspirators for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. After Ponce-Hurtado
    pled guilty, the United States Probation Office prepared a presentence report (PSR),
    recommending, as relevant, that Ponce-Hurtado be held accountable for 5.49
    kilograms of methamphetamine mixture and that he receive a four-level upward
    adjustment for being an organizer or leader. See United States Sentencing
    Commission, Guidelines Manual, § 2D1.1(c)(2) (setting a base offense level of 36 for
    at least 5 kilograms of methamphetamine mixture); § 3B1.1(a) (increasing base
    offense level by 4 levels where defendant was an organizer or leader of a criminal
    activity that involved 5 or more participants).
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    On appeal, Ponce-Hurtado argues that the district court failed to make adequate
    factual findings in support of the drug quantity attributed to him for sentencing
    purposes. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32 requires the district court “for any
    disputed portion of the presentence report or other controverted matter—[to] rule on
    the dispute or determine that a ruling is unnecessary either because the matter will not
    affect sentencing, or because the court will not consider the matter in sentencing.”
    Fed. R. Crim. P. 32(i)(3)(B). We review a district court’s drug quantity determination
    for clear error. United States v. Young, 
    689 F.3d 941
    , 945 (8th Cir. 2012), cert.
    denied, 
    133 S. Ct. 902
     (2013).
    At sentencing, Ponce-Hurtado objected to the PSR’s attribution of 5.49
    kilograms of methamphetamine mixture to him. Ponce-Hurtado admitted to being
    responsible for 4.87 kilograms of methamphetamine mixture, which included the
    quantity the undercover officer would have brought back from Pennsylvania as well
    as the quantity of drugs one of the co-conspirators sold to the undercover officer from
    September 2012 to November 2012. He denied, however, being the source of the
    drugs that a co-conspirator supplied the undercover officer from January 2012 to June
    2012, and thus objected to the PSR’s inclusion of those drug quantities in determining
    his base offense level.
    The district court heard testimony from a narcotics officer concerning Pacheco-
    Huizar’s sale of methamphetamine to the undercover officer. According to the
    officer’s testimony, Pacheco-Huizar admitted to receiving the methamphetamine he
    sold in 2012 to the undercover officer and the confidential informant from another co-
    conspirator, but he only made the sales after Ponce-Hurtado had given permission for
    the transactions to take place. After hearing the testimony at sentencing, the district
    court held, because those drug sales were in furtherance of the conspiracy to which
    Ponce-Hurtado pled guilty, the drug quantities could be included in determining the
    amount of methamphetamine attributable to him. Thus, the district court overruled
    Ponce-Hurtado’s objection as to drug quantity and found he was responsible for at
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    least 5 kilograms of methamphetamine mixture. See United States v. Plancarte-
    Vazquez, 
    450 F.3d 848
    , 852 (8th Cir. 2006) (holding district court “may consider all
    transactions known or reasonably foreseeable to the defendant that were made in
    furtherance of the conspiracy” in determining drug quantity). The district court’s
    finding that Ponce-Hurtado was responsible for at least 5 kilograms of
    methamphetamine mixture was a sufficient finding for purposes of Rule 32. See
    United States v. Allmon, 
    500 F.3d 800
    , 804-05 (8th Cir. 2007). In light of the record
    before the district court, there was no clear error in the court’s drug quantity
    determination and its overruling of Ponce-Hurtado’s objections to the drug quantity
    calculation. See United States v. Davis, 
    471 F.3d 938
    , 950 (8th Cir. 2006) (“The
    District Court satisfies Rule 32(i)(3)(B) if it makes a clear statement indicating it was
    relying on its impression of the testimony of the witnesses at trial, coupled with its
    specific rejection of the defendant’s quantity objections.” (internal quotation marks
    omitted)).
    Ponce-Hurtado also objected to the PSR’s four-level leader or organizer
    enhancement. He argued at sentencing that the evidence presented by the government
    did not show he served in a leader or organizer capacity; rather he merely relayed
    information and directions he received from others. The district court rejected Ponce-
    Hurtado’s argument, finding he was not a credible witness and that the preponderance
    of the evidence showed that Ponce-Hurtado served as an organizer or leader.
    We review for clear error the factual findings underlying a district court’s
    imposition of an enhancement for a defendant’s role in the offense, United States v.
    Johnson, 
    619 F.3d 910
    , 921 (8th Cir. 2010), and we broadly construe the terms
    “organizer” and “leader,” as set out in section 3B1.1, United States v. De Oliveira, 
    623 F.3d 593
    , 599 (8th Cir. 2010). To determine whether a person is an organizer or
    leader of a criminal activity, the court should consider a number of “factors,”
    including “the exercise of decision making authority, the nature of participation in the
    commission of the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a
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    larger share of the fruits of the crime, the degree of participation in planning or
    organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the illegal activity, and the degree of
    control and authority exercised over others.” USSG § 3B1.1, comment. (n.4).
    The district court found Ponce-Hurtado’s testimony was not credible and
    determined he qualified for the enhancement in light of his activities in managing the
    criminal enterprise. For instance, the undercover officer was told to contact one of the
    other co-conspirators who would relay to Ponce-Hurtado the undercover officer’s
    decision of whether to transport the methamphetamine. Also, co-conspirator Pacheco-
    Huizar claimed that he only sold drugs to the confidential informant and the
    undercover officer after Ponce-Hurtado, who Pacheco-Huizar referred to as “boss,”
    had given permission for those sales to occur. Considering these factual findings
    under the clearly erroneous standard of review, we find no reason to disturb the
    district court’s determination that Ponce-Hurtado qualified for the four-level organizer
    or leader enhancement.
    Accordingly, we affirm the sentence.
    ______________________________
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