United States v. Niles

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS September 13, 2017
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v. No. 16-8048
(D.C. No. 2:15-CR-00187-NDF-4)
JOHN WESLEY NILES, (D. Wyo.)
Defendant - Appellant.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
Before HARTZ, BALDOCK, and HOLMES, Circuit Judges.
Defendant-Appellant John Wesley Niles appeals from the district court’s order
sentencing him to twenty-four months’ imprisonment. Mr. Niles pleaded guilty to
possessing methamphetamine on November 29, 2014 with intent to distribute. Based on
evidence of distribution activities between July of 2013 and November of 2014, the
district court calculated Mr. Niles’s relevant conduct under § 1B1.3(a)(2) of the U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines (“Guidelines” or “U.S.S.G.”) as “somewhere” between fifty-six
and sixty grams of methamphetamine, and used that drug quantity as the initial predicate
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the doctrines
of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its
persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
for Mr. Niles’s ultimate sentence.
Mr. Niles appeals, arguing that his relevant conduct for sentencing purposes
should have included only the fourteen grams involved in his offense of conviction. More
specifically, Mr. Niles argues that the district court erred: (1) by including the 4.5 grams
of methamphetamine he allegedly distributed in July of 2013; (2) by finding he intended
to distribute additional quantities of methamphetamine (apart from the amount that
formed the basis of his conviction) that he allegedly obtained from his codefendant
throughout November of 2014; and (3) by purportedly counting, as relevant conduct,
personal-use quantities of methamphetamine.
Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), we
affirm the district court’s sentencing order.
I
In the summer of 2014, agents with the Wyoming Division of Criminal
Investigation (“DCI”) began investigating a methamphetamine distribution conspiracy.
During the course of the investigation, the agents determined—through a series of
intercepted communications—that Richard Shelby Schutt, Jr. and Mr. Niles, among
others, engaged in a conspiracy to acquire and distribute methamphetamine. The relevant
aspects of the investigation revealed, in particular, that Mr. Schutt and Mr. Niles
repeatedly met during November of 2014, and, in conjunction with those meetings, Mr.
Schutt provided Mr. Niles with methamphetamine. Notably, investigators learned from a
call intercepted on November 4, that Mr. Niles told Mr. Schutt “[d]on’t get rid of nothing.
2
I want whatever you have.” R., Vol. III, at 62 (Tr. Sen. Hr’g, dated May 3, 2016); accord
id., Vol. II, at 74 (Govt.’s Sen. Mem., filed May , 2016) (recounting the contents of call
164).1 Likewise, prior to what investigators believe was a drug transaction between
Messrs. Schutt and Niles on November 22, 2014, Mr. Niles sent a text message to Mr.
Schutt, saying “I’m ready when you are and bring lots.” Id., Vol. II, at 98 (Exhibit 1)
(recounting the contents of call 588).
On the last occasion—and the single transaction to which he pleaded guilty—Mr.
Niles called Mr. Schutt shortly before midnight on November 28, 2014, and arranged to
pick up “‘double the usual.’” Id. at 77 (recounting the contents of call 715). Shortly after
midnight on November 29, 2014, a DCI agent watched Messrs. Schutt and Niles engage
in a transaction at a public rest area, and after the two men parted, a state officer stopped
Mr. Niles’s vehicle (at DCI’s request) and found 13.92 grams of methamphetamine in his
1
The record that was submitted to us does not have materials containing the
actual text messages or audio recordings between Messrs. Niles and Schutt that law
enforcement intercepted. Though that does not reflect optimal appellate practice by
counsel, we have no cause for concern for two reasons. First, because of a stipulation by
Mr. Niles, there is apparently no dispute regarding the contents of the communications.
Specifically, in an exhibit appended to its sentencing response brief in the district court,
the government included the contents of the relevant text messages and also embedded
audio files of the relevant calls between the two men, and, after reviewing the exhibit, Mr.
Niles stipulated to its accuracy, though he “reserv[ed] his right to dispute any conclusions
to be drawn from his communications.” R., Vol. II, at 69. Second, though the version of
the government’s exhibit attached to its sentencing response brief that was filed with us
does not contain operational audio files, we exercised our discretion to secure and
consider a copy of the exhibit housed in the district court that does contain working audio
files. See Fed. R. App. P. 10(a) (noting that “the record on appeal” includes “the original
papers and exhibits filed in the district court”).
3
coat pocket.
On September 24, 2015, a federal grand jury in the District of Wyoming returned
an indictment charging Mr. Niles (and others) with conspiracy to distribute
methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Mr. Niles
pleaded guilty to the possession charge (under the terms of a plea agreement) on February
17, 2016, and the government dismissed the conspiracy count.
Following the plea, the U.S. Probation Office prepared a Presentence Report
(“PSR”),2 which recreated “a time frame of [the] distribution activities.” R., Vol. II, at 10
(PSR, prepared Mar. 17, 2016). Mr. Schutt indicated that, in July of 2013, Mr. Niles
distributed a multiple-gram quantity of methamphetamine to him, including specifically a
3.5-gram amount, and, thereafter, between October of 2014 and November 29, 2014, Mr.
Schutt “‘consistently’ provided methamphetamine to [Mr. Niles] in one-half and one
ounce quantities . . . ‘every day or two.’” Id. More specifically, the Probation Office
found from the totality of the facts that, in July of 2013 Mr. Niles must have distributed
“a minimum of 1 gram plus 3.5 grams” (i.e., 4.5 grams) of methamphetamine to Mr.
Schutt and that Mr. Schutt “only had four ounces to distribute to” Mr. Niles in the
October-to-November 2014 period. Id.In sum, the PSR determined that Mr. Niles’s relevant “distribution activities”
2
The PSR calculated Mr. Niles’s Guidelines range based upon the 2015
edition of the Guidelines. See R., Vol. II, at 11 (“The 2015 Guidelines Manual has been
used to determine the defendant’s offense level.”). Mr. Niles does not question this
decision on appeal and, therefore, we also reference this edition.
4
included:
1. 4.5 grams that Mr. Schutt allegedly obtained from Mr. Niles in
July of 2013;
2. Mr. Schutt’s entire four-ounce supply between October and
November of 2014; and
3. the fourteen grams (rounded up from 13.92 grams) that Mr.
Niles acquired from Mr. Schutt on November 29, 2014.
The PSR thus calculated the relevant drug quantity as 130.5 grams, “creat[ing] a base
offense level of 24.” Id.Mr. Niles objected to this aspect of the PSR (and raised other objections not
pressed on appeal), initially arguing that his relevant conduct should extend no further
than the drug quantity involved in his offense of conviction—specifically, only the
fourteen grams seized on November 29, 2014. In responding to Mr. Niles’s objection, the
U.S. Probation Office agreed that the draft PSR overestimated the distribution activities
between October of 2014 and November 29, 2014, but stressed—given Mr. Schutt’s
statements—that Mr. Niles’s proposed figure would underestimate the relevant drug
quantity. The U.S. Probation Office revised downward its original calculation, and
concluded that “the most conservative [estimate] would involve at least a quarter-ounce
distribution (7 grams); plus a half-ounce distribution (14 grams); plus a one-ounce
distribution (28 grams); and the 14 grams seized, for a minimum of 63 grams of relevant
conduct methamphetamine”—a drug quantity that carried the same “base offense level of
24.” Id. at 34 (Addendum to PSR, dated Apr. 1, 2016); cf. id. at 10 (concluding that
5
130.5 grams of relevant conduct would equate to “a base offense level of 24”). Given the
uncertainty regarding the precise drug quantity, however, the U.S. Probation Office
indicated that the district court “may need to hold a relevant conduct hearing.” Id. at 34.
And the district court did hold such a hearing.
On May 3, 2016, the court conducted a sentencing hearing. The government
elected to offer the testimony of a state police officer assigned to DCI, Special Agent
Bartel (“SA Bartel”), along with recordings of the intercepted exchanges between Messrs.
Niles and Schutt. SA Bartel testified, based upon his experience with drug-distribution
cases, on the topic of drug “fronting”—i.e., the practice of providing quantities of drugs
without any up-front payment. See R., Vol. III, at 47–51. More specifically, SA Bartel
explained that drug dealers generally front drugs on the understanding that the recipient
will “sell the drugs to make the money back, come back, pay for those drugs and pick up
more drugs on a front again.” Id. at 47. SA Bartel acknowledged, however, that fronting
could result in either personal use or distribution, and explained that fronting “a quarter or
half ounce” probably indicated “redistribut[ion],” while “fronting a half a gram[] more
than likely” reflected personal use (because, he explained, the average daily drug user
consumes “about a gram [or two]”). Id. at 49, 52. Following SA Bartel’s testimony, the
parties advanced their competing positions concerning Mr. Niles’s relevant conduct for
sentencing purposes.
More specifically, the government argued that Mr. Niles’s earlier transactions with
Mr. Schutt (i.e., before the offense of conviction) constituted relevant conduct for
6
purposes of U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, because the “offense of conviction . . . possession with
intent to distribute . . . [comprised] part of the same course of conduct or common scheme
or plan” as the previous transactions between Messrs. Niles and Schutt. Id. at 56. The
government then estimated Mr. Niles’s relevant conduct from prior transactions by
extrapolating backwards from the November 29 fourteen grams, using Mr. Niles’s
“double the usual” language as the touchstone. The government inferred that Mr. Niles
usually obtained seven-gram quantities from Mr. Schutt, and then retraced the instances
in which Messrs. Niles and Schutt arranged drug transactions. The government therefore
estimated the “overall scope” of Mr. Niles’s conduct during that period at “about 63
grams.” Id.
Mr. Niles argued, by contrast, that the relevant-conduct inquiry should be limited
to only those drugs possessing the proper relation to the offense of conviction, though he
now acknowledged that the relevant conduct was not limited to the amount seized in the
offense of conviction. Specifically, he argued that the government failed to meet its
burden of demonstrating that he “distributed any of the methamphetamine that he
received at any time other than the 4.5 grams that Schutt proffered that [he] distributed to
him in July of 2013” and “the 14 grams that [he] pled guilty to possessing with the intent
to distribute.” Id. at 58-59 (emphasis added). Mr. Niles therefore advanced the position
that “the only evidence that [had] been proved by a preponderance of the evidence in
terms of the relevant conduct would be the 18.5 grams.” Id. at 61.
The district court, however, determined that Mr. Niles’s argument “disregard[ed]
7
common sense and reasonable inferences.” Id. at 62. More specifically, the district court
explained that:
We have – we have not only two bookends of distribution, but we have
statements in between [by] Schutt and Niles concerning conduct during
the November time frame. So by bookends I mean we have the July
2013 distribution activity and the November 28th [sic] distribution
activity which – to which Mr. Niles pled guilty. So we have
distribution. And the suggestion that everything – everything else, all
other conduct, was personal use conduct, again, belies common sense.
We also have statements. More notably, we’ve got the statement
on November 4th where Niles called Schutt and said, “Don’t get rid of
nothing. I want whatever you have.” From my perspective, that’s not
likely in the course of this day-to-day or virtually day-to-day
connection between the two a statement that a user would make. “I
want whatever you have. Don’t get rid of nothing” suggests that
whatever – whatever quantity – pick a number Mr. Niles – would have
taken from Schutt . . . . On November 22nd Niles is communicating to
– again to Schutt and asked that Schutt . . . bring lots. So this is
someone that seems interested in getting as much as he can get.
Id. at 62–63 (emphases added). Given the nature of these statements and the fact that
they occurred between two indisputably distributive events (i.e., the two “bookends”), the
district court concluded that Mr. Niles’s conduct between October and November of 2014
proved “more indicative . . . of possession with intent to distribute than simply user
quantities.” Id. at 63. The district court therefore calculated —without further
explication—the range of “the most likely relevant conduct [as] somewhere between 56
and 60 grams of methamphetamine” and “notably over the 50 grams which would place
Mr. Niles in base offense level of 24.”3 Id.
3
Apart from stating its ultimate calculation, the district court offered no
further explanation of the basis for its determination that Mr. Niles’s relevant conduct
8
The district court sentenced Mr. Niles to twenty-four months’ imprisonment
(followed by a term of supervised released), and this timely appeal followed.
II
We review Mr. Niles’s sentence for reasonableness, “giving deference to the
district court under ‘the familiar abuse-of-discretion standard.’” United States v.
Hamilton, 587 F.3d 1199, 1219 (10th Cir. 2009) (quoting Gall v. United States, 552 U.S.
38, 46 (2007)). Mr. Niles presents a procedural-reasonableness challenge to his sentence,
specifically disputing the drug quantities the district court included in its relevant-conduct
finding. See, e.g., United States v. Sells, 541 F.3d 1227, 1234 (10th Cir. 2008)
(explaining that a “challenge to the district court’s drug-quantity determination”
constitutes “a challenge to the procedural reasonableness of [the] sentence”); see also
United States v. A.B., 529 F.3d 1275, 1277 (10th Cir. 2008) (noting that reasonableness
has both procedural and substantive components).
In determining whether the district court correctly calculated Mr. Niles’s advisory
Guidelines range—and, more specifically, the scope of his relevant conduct—we review
the district court’s legal conclusions “de novo” and its drug-quantity determinations for
“clear error.” United States v. Dalton, 409 F.3d 1247, 1251 (10th Cir. 2005). Its factual
indicated that he was accountable for fifty-six to sixty grams of methamphetamine.
However, both parties seem to operate on the premise that the district court’s relevant-
conduct calculation implicitly included (1) the 4.5 grams from July of 2013, (2) the
fourteen grams from November 29, 2014, and (3) an additional quantity—37.5 to 41.5
grams—Mr. Niles allegedly acquired from Mr. Schutt earlier in November 2014.
Therefore, so do we.
9
determinations will be reversed “only if the district court’s finding was without factual
support in the record or we are left with a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has
been made.” Id. (emphases added) (quoting United States v. Ryan, 236 F.3d 1268, 1273
(10th Cir. 2001)).
III
Mr. Niles raises three interconnected challenges to the district court’s relevant-
conduct determination. First, Mr. Niles argues that the district court erred by including
his distribution activities in July of 2013. Second, he argues that the district court erred
by finding that he intended to distribute the additional quantities of methamphetamine
that he obtained from Mr. Schutt in November of 2014 (apart from the final fourteen
grams). Third, Mr. Niles argues that the district court erred by counting, as relevant
conduct, methamphetamine he intended only for personal use. Addressing each of Mr.
Niles’s challenges in turn, we uphold the district court’s rulings.
A
Mr. Niles states that the district court erred in counting the July 2013 transaction as
relevant conduct under U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, because it lacks the necessary factual and
temporal nexus to the offense of conviction that occurred—over one year later—on
November 29, 2014. The government contends that we should decline to review this
argument under the invited-error doctrine. For the reasons that follow, we agree that the
invited-error doctrine precludes this objection.
The invited-error doctrine—“a species of waiver”—“precludes a party from
10
arguing against a proposition the party willingly adopted” before the district court.
United States v. Rodebaugh, 798 F.3d 1281, 1304 (10th Cir. 2015) (quoting United States
v. Griffin, 294 F. App’x 393, 395 (10th Cir. 2008) (unpublished)); see also United States
v. Teague, 443 F.3d 1310, 1315 (10th Cir. 2006) (“A defendant cannot invite a ruling and
then have it set aside on appeal.”) (quoting United States v. Hardwell, 80 F.3d 1471, 1487
(10th Cir. 1996)). In other words, “[h]aving induced the court to rely on a particular
erroneous proposition of law or fact, a party may not at a later sta[g]e use the error to set
aside the immediate consequences of the error.” United States v. Morrison, 771 F.3d 687,
694 (10th Cir. 2014) (quoting United States v. DeBerry, 430 F.3d 1294, 1302 (10th Cir.
2005)); see also United States v. Carrasco-Salazar, 494 F.3d 1270, 1272 (10th Cir. 2007)
(“Our prior cases make clear that waiver bars a defendant from appealing an invited
error.”).
In disputing the PSR’s initial relevant-conduct calculation (i.e., 130.5 grams), Mr.
Niles affirmatively argued that “18.5 grams” constituted the “appropriate relevant
conduct” measure, because the government only had proven that Mr. Niles intended to
distribute “the 14 grams [he] pled guilty to possessing with the intent to distribute, and
the 4.5 grams S[c]hutt proffered he obtained from Niles” in July of 2013. R., Vol. II, at
40 (Def.’s Sen. Mem., filed Apr. 18, 2016) (emphases added); accord id. at 39 (“[T]he
only evidence that Defendant redistributed any of the drugs that he obtained from his
source is his own guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute the 14 grams that were
seized on November 29, 2014, and S[c]hutt’s proffer statement that he obtained 4.5 grams
11
from Defendant in July of 2013.”). Mr. Niles restated his view—including the 4.5 grams
from the July 2013 transaction—that no drug “quantity other than the 18.5 grams should
be included in [his] relevant conduct.” Id. at 40 (emphasis added); cf. id. at 56 (Def.’s
Suppl. Sen. Memo., filed Apr. 19, 2016) (“the government has presented no evidence that
any of the quantities [Mr. Niles] possessed, other than the 14 grams he plead [sic] guilty
to and the 3.5 grams that [Schutt] proffered he obtained from [Mr. Niles], were possessed
with intent to be distributed”).
Mr. Niles’s counsel reinforced this position during the sentencing hearing, by
again arguing that the underlying record contained “absolutely no evidence that Mr. Niles
distributed any of the methamphetamine that he received at any time other than the 4.5
grams that Schutt proffered that Niles distributed to him in July of 2013” and “the 14
grams that Mr. Niles pled guilty to possessing with intent to distribute.” R., Vol. III, at
58–59 (emphasis added). In summarizing his position, Mr. Niles’s counsel again
emphasized that “the only evidence that [had] been proved by a preponderance of the
evidence in terms of the relevant conduct would be [those] 18.5 grams.” Id. at 61. Thus,
Mr. Niles repeatedly and consistently advised the district court that the 4.5 grams he
allegedly provided to Schutt in July of 2013 constituted relevant conduct with respect to
his offense of conviction.
Indeed, in his reply briefing on appeal, Mr. Niles effectively concedes that he
“invited inclusion of the 4.5 grams from July 2013 as relevant conduct,” but claims that
he made that “argumentative concession . . . for purposes of distinguishing the evidence
12
presented regarding that transaction” with “the [alleged] lack of evidence [proffered] with
respect to all of the disputed transactions from November 1, 2014, through November 28,
2014.” Aplt.’s Reply Br. at 5–6. Mr. Niles therefore contends that his invited error
“cannot be construed as an invitation to rely on the July 2013 transaction as evidence of
Niles’ intent with respect to transactions 16 months later.” Id. at 2; accord id. at 6
(repeating the same premise).
However, Mr. Niles never explained his references to the 4.5 grams in this way
before the district court. Rather, he argued—repeatedly and without qualification—that
“18.5 grams” constituted the “appropriate relevant conduct” measure. R., Vol. II, at 40
(emphasis added). In other words, he affirmatively urged the district court to include the
4.5 grams in the calculus of relevant conduct, along with the 14 grams pertaining to his
offense of conviction.
Accordingly, we must conclude that Mr. Niles invited the district court to include
the 4.5 grams from the July 2013 transaction in its relevant-conduct analysis; if the court
committed error by doing so, Mr. Niles invited it. Therefore, Mr. Niles may not
challenge this ostensible error. See United States v. Dunbar, 718 F.3d 1268, 1281 (10th
Cir. 2013) (rejecting the defendant’s challenge to the factual basis for his sentence,
because defense counsel’s legal argument at sentencing invited the district court’s error);
Teague, 443 F.3d at 1315–16 (rejecting the defendant’s challenge to the conditions of his
supervised release, where he had proposed them through counsel and personally agreed to
them at his sentencing).
13
B
Mr. Niles next challenges the district court’s determination that the quantities of
methamphetamine that he obtained throughout November of 2014 constituted relevant
conduct. More specifically, he contends that the evidence concerning these additional
transactions—notably, the intercepted communications between Messrs. Niles and
Schutt—was insufficient to demonstrate that he possessed the additional
methamphetamine with distributive intent. The government bears the burden of proving
the relevant-conduct drug quantities by a preponderance of the evidence. See United
States v. Fortier, 180 F.3d 1217, 1225 (10th Cir. 1999); United States v. Garcia, 994 F.2d
1499, 1508 (10th Cir. 1993). And it argues that the record amply supports the district
court’s inclusion as relevant conduct of an additional 37.5 to 41.5 grams of
methamphetamine (i.e., in addition to the 4.5 grams from July 2013 4.5 and the fourteen
grams from the offense of conviction). We agree.
1
When a defendant receives a conviction for possession with intent to distribute, see
21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), his sentencing range—and, more specifically, his base offense
level—depends on the underlying drug quantity. “When the actual drugs underlying a
drug quantity determination [have] not [been] seized, the trial court may rely upon an
estimate to establish the defendant’s guideline offense level ‘so long as the information
relied upon has some basis of support in the facts of the particular case and bears
sufficient indicia of reliability.’” Dalton, 409 F.3d at 1251 (emphases added) (quoting
14
United States v. Ruiz-Castro, 92 F.3d 1519, 1534 (10th Cir. 1996)). However, the “need
to estimate drug quantities” does not provide “a license to calculate drug quantities by
guesswork.” United States v. Richards, 27 F.3d 465, 469 (10th Cir. 1994) (quoting
United States v. Paulino, 996 F.2d 1541, 1545 (3d Cir. 1993)).
For sentencing purposes under the Guidelines, the drug quantities are not only
those associated with the offense of conviction, but also those quantities within the scope
of relevant conduct. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a) (“Relevant Conduct (Factors that
Determine the Guideline Range”); id. at § 2D1.1 (setting forth the base offense level
calculation). As relevant here, the scope of relevant conduct is defined by U.S.S.G. §
1B1.3(a)(2).4 It specifies that relevant conduct includes “all acts and omissions” that
comprise “part of the same course of conduct or common scheme or plan as the offense of
conviction.” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(2).
Two offenses qualify “as part of the same course of conduct if they are sufficiently
connected or related to each other as to warrant the conclusion that they are part of a
single episode, spree, or ongoing series of offenses.” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, cmt. n.5(B)(ii)
(emphasis added). In applying the “same course of conduct” standard, “similarity,
4
As a threshold for its application, U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(2) requires that the
other offenses be of a type that would require grouping with the offense of conviction
under U.S.S.G. § 3D1.2(d). See United States v. Taylor, 97 F.3d 1360, 1363 (10th Cir.
1996). In this case, the Guidelines explicitly require grouping as to certain drug-
trafficking offenses, like possession with intent to distribute. See U.S.S.G. § 3D1.2(d)
(requiring grouping for offenses under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1); id. at § 2D1.1 (describing the
sentencing calculation for possession with intent to distribute).
15
regularity, and temporal proximity” constitute “the significant elements to be evaluated.”
Hamilton, 587 F.3d at 1221 (quoting United States v. Roederer, 11 F.3d 973, 979 (10th
Cir. 1994)); see also U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, cmt. n.5(B)(ii) (stating the same set of factors).
The standard therefore “looks to whether the defendant repeats the same type of criminal
activity over time” or “engage[s] in an identifiable behavior pattern of specified criminal
activity.” Hamilton, 587 F.3d at 1221 (quoting Roederer, 11 F.3d at 979). “For two or
more offenses to constitute part of a common scheme or plan,” by contrast, “they must be
substantially connected to each other by at least one common factor, such as common
victims, common accomplices, common purpose, or similar modus operandi.” U.S.S.G. §
1B1.3 cmt. n.5(B)(i) (first emphasis added).
2
Mr. Niles contends that the recorded calls and text messages indicate only that he
purchased unknown quantities of methamphetamine for unknown purposes during the
November 2014 period at issue—specifically, November 2–27, 2014—and, therefore, the
district court clearly erred in holding him responsible for possessing with the intent to
distribute an additional 37.5 to 41.5 grams. Put another way, Mr. Niles claims that the
district court had no evidentiary basis for attaching specific quantities to these November
drug transactions, or for finding that these transactions involved an intent to distribute,
such that they properly could be deemed relevant conduct for his drug-trafficking offense
of conviction (i.e., possession with intent to distribute). We reject Mr. Niles’s arguments.
a
16
At the outset, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence in the record for the
district court to find that Mr. Niles purchased methamphetamine from Mr. Schutt in a
“usual” amount of seven grams. Critically, prior to the final fourteen-gram transaction,
Mr. Niles requested “double the usual.” R., Vol. II, at 77 (recounting the contents of call
715). The natural inference from this statement is that there was a “usual” amount and it
was seven grams. Moreover, the intercepted communications between Messrs. Niles and
Schutt fortify the idea that there was in fact a usual amount. See, e.g., id. at 92
(recounting the contents of call 422) (Mr. Niles requesting Mr. Schutt bring “[s]ame if
you can”); id. at 76 (recounting the contents of call 608) (Mr. Niles asking Mr. Schutt if
he could “get my usual”).
Accordingly, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence from which the
district court could find that Mr. Niles purchased a “usual” amount of seven grams from
Mr. Schutt between November 2 and 27, 2014. Furthermore, Mr. Niles does not
challenge the government’s significant contention that the recorded communications
reveal that “at a minimum” he and Mr. Schutt “conducted about six methamphetamine
transactions [in this November period] before the final transaction.” Aplee.’s Br. at 17.
Six transactions of seven grams apiece would of course yield 42 grams. Therefore, if Mr.
Niles engaged in these transactions with distributive intent, the record would clearly
support the district court’s finding that the additional relevant conduct was 37.5 to 41.5
grams.
b
17
Mr. Niles’s principal challenge to the district court’s relevant-conduct finding can
be stated concisely: the court erred because the “Government presented no evidence that
[Mr. Niles] intended to distribute the drugs” he obtained from Mr. Schutt from November
2–27, 2014, rather than personally using them. Aplt.’s Reply Br. at 9; accord Aplt.’s
Opening Br. at 25–29. Specifically, Mr. Niles contends that the transactions throughout
November 2014 lack a sufficient factual nexus with the offense of conviction to qualify as
the “same course of conduct” or part of a “common scheme or plan” within the meaning
of U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(2). We disagree.
In particular, we reject the notion that the government failed to prove, by a
preponderance of the evidence, that Mr. Niles obtained methamphetamine in November
of 2014 for distribution purposes. Significantly, in finding that the November 2014
purchases reflected possession with intent to distribute, as opposed to simple possession,
the district court made two compelling factual findings. First, the district court observed
that the November 2014 purchases occurred between two indisputably distributive events:
the initial transaction in July of 2013, and the offense of conviction on November 29,
2014. Second, the district court stressed that, in purchasing drugs from Mr. Schutt, Mr.
Niles made statements like “I want whatever you have. Don’t get rid of nothing” and
“bring lots.” R., Vol. III, at 62.
In addition to that evidence bearing on distributive intent, the district court had
before it the seemingly undisputed fact that Mr. Niles received at least some of the drugs
that he purchased from Mr. Schutt on a front basis, together with SA Bartel’s testimony
18
that a seller fronts quarter-ounce quantities—like the seven-gram quantities Mr. Niles
purchased—more probably than not “for someone to redistribute.” R., Vol. III, at 49.
Mr. Niles’s attempt to counter this point fails because it depends on the contention that
we have previously rejected: specifically, that “there was no evidence of any specific
amounts received or transferred between Schutt and Mr. Niles.” Aplt.’s Opening Br. at
28. As noted, there was sufficient evidence for the district court to find that Mr. Niles
received throughout November (prior to the final transaction) methamphetamine from
Mr. Schutt in the usual amount of seven grams.
Taken together, the collective weight of the foregoing evidence supports a district
court finding that Mr. Niles’s November 2014 purchases of methamphetamine from Mr.
Schutt related to distribution. See United States v. Gallegos, 784 F.3d 1356, 1361 (10th
Cir. 2015) (explaining that a fronting arrangement strongly suggests that the recipient of
the drugs will redistribute them for profit); United States v. Small, 423 F.3d 1164, 1184
(10th Cir. 2005) (same).
Similarly, the record supports a finding that Mr. Niles’s methamphetamine
transactions with Mr. Schutt in November of 2014 comprised part of the “same course of
conduct” and “common scheme or plan” as the November 29, 2014 offense of conviction.
In brief, the transactions meet the similarity, regularity, and temporal proximity prongs of
the “same course of conduct” standard, because: (1) the transactions involved purchases
of the same drug at the same or similar quantity, the same accomplice (Mr. Schutt), and
the same geographic area as the offense of conviction, see United States v. Caldwell, 585
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F.3d 1347, 1352–53 (10th Cir. 2009) (finding similarity where the conduct involved the
same drug, same accomplices, and same geographic area as the charged offense); (2) the
transactions occurred regularly and repeatedly—at least six times—throughout November
of 2014, see United States v. Damato, 672 F.3d 832, 842 (10th Cir. 2012) (explaining that
regularity “looks for a pattern of similar conduct”); and (3) the transactions occurred
within a temporally proximate one-month period, see Hamilton, 587 F.3d at 1221–22.
Relatedly, the transactions met the “common scheme or plan” standard, because
the transactions were substantially connected by common participants (Messrs. Schutt
and Niles), a common purpose (methamphetamine distribution), and a common modus
operandi (Mr. Schutt fronting methamphetamine to Mr. Niles and receiving prompt
repayment). See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3 cmt. n.5(B)(i) (“For two or more offenses to constitute
part of a common scheme or plan, they must be substantially connected to each other by
at least one common factor, such as common victims, common accomplices, common
purpose, or similar modus operandi.”).
Consequently, we conclude that the record supports a district court finding that Mr.
Niles engaged in methamphetamine transactions with distributive intent between
November 2–27, 2014 that totaled at least an additional 37.5 to 41.5 grams. Therefore,
the district court’s ultimate relevant-conduct finding of between fifty-six and sixty grams
would appear to be free of clear error.
C
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Finally, Mr. Niles argues that the district court erred by including personal-use
methamphetamine quantities in its relevant-conduct calculation. Because we have no
basis on this record to conclude that the district court actually incorporated personal-use
quantities, we find no merit to Mr. Niles’s contention of legal error.
We have not addressed whether personal-use drug quantities qualify as relevant
conduct in possession-with-intent-to-distribute cases. We have, however, addressed
closely related scenarios. In United States v. Wood, 57 F.3d 913 (10th Cir. 1995), for
example, we concluded that the district court properly included personal-use marijuana as
relevant conduct where the defendant had been convicted of manufacturing marijuana.
Id. at 920. Similarly, in United States v. Asch, 207 F.3d 1238 (10th Cir. 2000), we
followed the weight of authority from our sister circuits in determining that personal-use
methamphetamine constituted relevant conduct where the offense of conviction was a
drug-trafficking conspiracy. Id. at 1243–44. Citing decisions from our sister circuits that
concluded that personal-use quantities have no relevance to possession-with-intent-to-
distribute convictions, however, we declined there to “decide whether [the] result would
be different if the offense of conviction [concerned] distribution or possession with intent
to distribute instead of conspiracy to commit those offenses.” Id. at 1244 n.6 (citing
United States v. Wyss, 147 F.3d 631, 632 (7th Cir. 1998); United States v. Kipp, 10 F.3d
1463, 1465–66 (9th Cir. 1993)). And we need not resolve the issue here either.
Specifically, we need not decide whether personal-use drug quantities qualify as
relevant conduct in possession-with-intent-to-distribute cases because there is no reason
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to believe that the district court here actually included personal-use quantities in its
relevant-conduct calculations. The court did not say that it was including them, and it did
not indicate that its relevant-conduct figure was equal to the total amount of
methamphetamine that Mr. Niles received from Mr. Schutt, such that it would necessarily
include any personal-use amounts.
Indeed, if we focus on what the court did, it is actually more plausible that the
court excluded any personal-use quantities than included them. In this regard, it is
significant that the court settled on a relevant-conduct drug-quantity figure that was lower
than the one that the Probation Office recommended in the PSR. Specifically, the court
found that the “most likely relevant conduct . . . [was] somewhere between 56 and 60
grams of methamphetamine,” R., Vol. III, at 63, whereas the PSR initially recommended
a figure of 130.5 grams and later revised it to 63 grams, see id., Vol. II, at 10 (calculating
“relevant conduct to a minimum . . . of 130.5 grams”); id. at 34 (explaining that “the most
conservative calculation would involve . . . a minimum of 63 grams of relevant conduct
methamphetamine”).
To the extent that we can say anything here with certainty, it is that the record does
not permit us to determine that the court actually included any personal-use quantities in
its relevant-conduct finding. Accordingly, we have no occasion to decide whether such
an inclusion would be proper. See United States v. Guest, 978 F.2d 577, 578–79 (10th
Cir. 1992) (“So far as we can tell from the record before us, in calculating Guest’s base
offense level the district court did not mention cocaine kept for Guest’s personal use.”).
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Mr. Niles cannot demonstrate that the court erred in this regard on this record.
IV
Based on the foregoing, we AFFIRM the district court’s sentencing order.
Entered for the Court
JEROME A. HOLMES
Circuit Judge
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