United States Tenth Circuit

A probation officer is not the government for the purposes of the safety valve, and a defendant does not meet the requirements of the safety valve provision merely by meeting with a probation officer during a presentence investigation. Defendant's sentence for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute is affirmed over a challenge to the district court's refusal to grant him a "safety-valve" adjustment so that he might be sentenced within the advisory guideline range below the statutory minimum.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/24/2008
• Published 03/25/2008

Judges

• KELLY, Circuit Judge., Before KELLY, Circuit Judge, McWILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge, and BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Elizabethanne C. Stevens, Assistant United States Attorney (Brett L. Tolman, United States Attorney, on the brief), Salt Lake City, UT, for Plaintiff-Appellee., Scott Keith Wilson, Assistant Federal Defender (Steven B. Killpack, Utah Federal Defender, on the briefs), Salt Lake City, UT, for Defendant-Appellant.