United States First Circuit

In this case, defendant was convicted of various drug and firearm offenses for leading a conspiracy to distribute drugs, and was sentenced to concurrent life sentences on all six counts of conviction. Defendant argues that prosecutorial misconduct and evidentiary errors warrant a new trial, and he challenges his sentence on grounds that the district court failed to make an individualized drug quantity finding and that the life sentence on the firearm count exceeded the applicable statutory maximum. The judgment is affirmed as to the convictions on all counts and as to the life sentences on the five drug counts, but remanded for a modified sentence on the one firearm count, where: 1) because, in theory, collateral review or other unpredictable events might alter someday the impact of the conviction on other counts, and because leaving in place the plainly unlawful life sentence for the firearm count could sully public perception of the proceeding, the judgment is remanded with instructions to enter a modified sentence on that count; 2) the prosecutor did not clearly or obviously vouch for the witness's credibility; 3) the prosecutor's various misstatements did not rise to plain error; 4) defendant has made no effort to show that the various alleged evidentiary errors likely affected the outcome; and 5) the district court's clear and obvious error in failing to make the individualized drug quantity finding did not affect defendant's sentence and therefore does not require reversal.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/13/2015
• Published 02/13/2015

Judges

• Kayatta

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel