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The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a man’s sentence for drug trafficking after determining a district court did not account for the difference in mixed and pure substances.
While executing a warrant at Jamic Johnson’s home, police officers discovered guns and baggies containing substances that appeared to be methamphetamine.
Lab tests later confirmed that one baggie held 68.2 grams of a substance that was 83% pure methamphetamine and another baggie contained 33.1 grams of a substance that was 39% pure methamphetamine.
Two other baggies contained a total of eight grams of a methamphetamine mixture of unknown purity.
Following his arrest, Johnson agreed to speak with officers about his drug dealing.
He eventually pleaded guilty to possessing more than 50 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and unlawfully possessing a firearm as a felon.
In anticipation of sentencing, the probation office prepared a presentence investigation report.
The PSR attributed to Johnson more than 150 grams and less than 500 grams of actual methamphetamine, corresponding to a base offense level of 32. The probation office also calculated a criminal history score of five, corresponding to a criminal history category of III.
At the sentencing hearing, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District Court of Indiana adopted the PSR’s methamphetamine calculation and Johnson did not object. The court also adopted the recommended guideline range of 135 to 168 months’ imprisonment.
When imposing the sentence, the court settled upon a 135 month term of imprisonment for the drug trafficking charge and added five years for the § 924(c) offense. As for the felon-in-possession count, which carried a 120-month statutory maximum sentence, the court imposed a sentence of 120 months’ imprisonment to run concurrently with the sentence for the drug offense.
On appeal, Johnson argued that the PSR’s determination that he had trafficked 150 to 500 grams of methamphetamine ignored the difference between actual methamphetamine and a mixture or substance containing methamphetamine and treated all of the drugs attributable to him as though they were the former.
“The problem is that the district court went on to assume that all five ounces were comprised of 100% actual methamphetamine—a proposition that finds no support in the record,” the court wrote in its per curiam opinion.
The court wrote that the assumption was critical because police officers only recovered 69.5 grams of actual methamphetamine in Johnson’s home which is “well short of the 150 to 499 grams needed to support the sentencing range.”
Johnson’s total offense level would be 29 and the guideline range would be 120 to 135 months imprisonment. The court noted the Johnson did not object to the PSR’s drug-quantity calculation and so they had to look for plain error.
“Here, the error resulted in a higher guidelines range, and we presume that an error affecting a defendant’s guidelines range also affects his substantial rights,” the court wrote.
The 7th Circuit vacated Johnson’s sentence and remanded for resentencing.
The court found the district court must account for the difference in the way the sentencing guidelines treat mixtures or substances containing methamphetamine and actual methamphetamine.
The case is United States of America v. Jamic C. Johnson, 22-2174.
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