United States v. Hagood

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 03-4010
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
JASON HAGOOD,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Greenville. Henry M. Herlong, Jr., District
Judge. (CR-01-828)
Submitted: June 19, 2003 Decided: June 24, 2003
Before NIEMEYER, KING, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Margaret A. Chamberlain, CHAMBERLAIN LAW FIRM, Greenville, South
Carolina, for Appellant. J. Strom Thurmond, Jr., United States
Attorney, Regan A. Pendleton, Assistant United States Attorney,
Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Jason Hagood pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent
to distribute fifty grams or more of cocaine base (crack) and less
than 500 grams of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 (2000).
He was sentenced to a term of 324 months imprisonment. Hagood
challenges the district court’s decision to give him an adjustment
for being an organizer or leader of the conspiracy when similarly
situated co-defendants did not receive such an adjustment. U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 3B1.1(a) (2002). We affirm.
The district court determined that Hagood was an organizer or
leader based on information in the presentence report that
described Hagood as one of a few conspirators who were involved in
the conspiracy early, received cocaine from the leader, Robert
Barnes, processed the cocaine into crack, and distributed it
through runners. Hagood also recruited at least one person into the
conspiracy. Hagood did not dispute this information, but argued
that he should not receive the adjustment because certain co-
defendants who were portrayed in the presentence report as being at
the same level as he within the conspiracy did not receive an
adjustment for having an aggravated role. In his view, the court’s
decision ignored the goal of uniformity in sentencing.
An adjustment is mandatory if a factor validly supports it.
United States v. Ashers, 968 F.2d 411, 414 (4th Cir. 1992). The
information before the court amply supported the leader adjustment
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in Hagood’s case. Assuming, arguendo, that a co-defendant should
have, but did not, receive the same adjustment, Hagood may not
challenge his sentence on that ground. The guidelines mandate that
adjustments be based on the defendant’s conduct, not on the
sentence imposed in another case.
We therefore affirm the sentence imposed by the district
court. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the
court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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