United States v. Silverio Alvarado Avila

Summary

The Ninth Circuit affirmed Silverio Alvarado Avila's 160-month sentence following his guilty pleas to drug-trafficking offenses. The court held that obstruction of justice required a two-level enhancement and, under the applicable 1987 Guidelines provision, precluded an acceptance-of-responsibility reduction. It also upheld the organizer-or-leader enhancement, aggregation of drug quantities from a dismissed count, and denial of permission to withdraw the guilty plea.

Holdings

1. Once the district court finds facts sufficient to constitute obstruction of justice under U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1, the two-level enhancement is mandatory; a later mitigating act may affect the sentence within the guideline range or other permitted adjustments but does not eliminate the enhancement.
2. Under the 1987 version of U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1, Application Note 4, a finding that the defendant obstructed justice precluded a reduction for acceptance of responsibility.
3. The district court did not clearly err in finding that Avila was an organizer or leader of the conspiracies.
4. The district court properly included 527 grams of cocaine covered by a dismissed count in calculating Avila's offense level because the quantity was part of the same general scheme and course of conduct.
5. Avila was not entitled to withdraw his guilty plea based on a disparity between his plea expectations and the presentence report.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the two-level obstruction-of-justice enhancement was mandatory after the court found that Avila had absconded from pretrial release, notwithstanding his later surrender.
2. Whether the 1987 version of U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1, Application Note 4, precluded a reduction for acceptance of responsibility when the defendant had obstructed justice.
3. Whether the district court adequately supported its finding that Avila was an organizer or leader under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a).
4. Whether the district court properly aggregated cocaine quantities from a dismissed count when calculating the guideline offense level.
5. Whether Avila was entitled to withdraw his guilty plea because the presentence report differed from his sentencing expectations.

Disposition

affirmed