United States First Circuit

Sentencing of a defendant convicted of various drug-trafficking is affirmed where: 1) as long as defendant's sentence comes within the maximum established by the jury's verdict, a sentencing court's preponderance-of-the-evidence factfinding on the issue of drug quantity, even though it may pave the way for a stiffer sentence within that maximum, does not violate Apprendi principles, and thus is not constitutionally improvident; 2) the district court did not commit clear error in determining the quantity of drugs attributable to the defendant as it is supported by a sensible view of the record and rested on permissible approximations.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/21/2009
• Published 08/21/2009

Judges

• SELYA, Circuit Judge., Before SELYA, BOUDIN and LIPEZ, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Paul J. Garrity, on brief, for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Michael J. Gunnison, Acting United States Attorney, and Aixa Maldonado-Quiñones, Assistant United States Attorney, on brief, for appellee.