United States v. Duane Fields, Jr.

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT AUG 28 2013
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 12-30315 U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 3:12-cr-00022-JKS-1
v.
MEMORANDUM*
DUANE BYRON FIELDS, Jr.,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Alaska
James K. Singleton, Senior District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted August 14, 2013
Anchorage, Alaska
Before: KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, BERZON and IKUTA, Circuit
Judges.
1. The quantity of cocaine subjecting Fields to increased penalties for his
conspiracy conviction was properly “charged in the indictment, submitted to the
jury, subject to the rules of evidence, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
United States v. Buckland, 289 F.3d 558, 568 (9th Cir. 2002) (en banc); see also
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
page 2
Alleyne v. United States, 570 U.S. ___, 133 S. Ct. 2151, 2155 (2013). The 439
grams found on his person and in his trailer, together with the other evidence of the
conspiracy’s drug-dealing activities, was ample to support the jury’s special verdict
that the conspiracy involved at least 500 grams. See United States v. Reed, 575
F.3d 900, 923 (9th Cir. 2009).
2. Fields’s acquittal on the firearm charge didn’t preclude the sentencing
judge from considering the gun in applying a two-level enhancement. See United
States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148, 157 (1997) (per curiam). Fields didn’t prove it was
“clearly improbable” that his gun possession was connected to his crimes, so the
enhancement was properly applied. United States v. Ferryman, 444 F.3d 1183,
1186 (9th Cir. 2006); see also U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 cmt. n.11.
3. Application of the managerial role enhancement to Fields’s sentence was
also proper. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(c). He twice sent others to deliver cocaine. Even if
these were the only times Fields exerted control over others, they qualify him for
the aggravating role enhancement. See, e.g., United States v. Maldonado, 215 F.3d
1046, 1050 (9th Cir. 2000).
AFFIRMED.