United States v. Altagracia Sosa

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

United States v. Altagracia Sosa

Opinion

USCA1 Opinion













September 21, 1992 NOT FOR PUBLICATION
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
_____________________
No. 92-1356

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

v.

LUZ ALTAGRACIA SOSA,

Defendant, Appellant.

___________________

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Raymond L. Acosta, U.S. District Judge]
___________________

____________________

Before

Breyer, Chief Judge,
___________

Campbell, Senior Circuit Judge,
____________________

and Torruella, Circuit Judge.
_____________

____________________

Lydia Lizarribar-Masini, was on brief for appellant.
_______________________
Jos A. Quiles, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom
______________
Daniel F. L pez-Romo, United States Attorney, were on brief for
____________________
appellee.



____________________


____________________






















PER CURIAM. Appellant pled guilty to possession with
__________

intent to distribute 561.1 grams net weight of cocaine. The

district court then sentenced appellant to the statutory minimum

sentence of sixty months in prison pursuant to 21 U.S.C.

841(b)(1)(B)(ii). Because appellant's co-defendants possessed

fewer than 500 grams of cocaine, they received sentences of only

33 months each. Neither the United States nor appellant dispute

the 60 month sentence.

During the sentencing hearing, however, the United

States offered evidence that appellant recruited her co-

defendants to commit their crimes. The government contends that

it obtained this evidence from a co-defendant's presentence

report. The government never revealed this evidence to appellant

prior to the sentencing hearing. As such, appellant requested a

copy of the presentence report and a continuance in order to

rebut the new allegation. The trial judge denied this request.

Because this court may only review the district court's

decision in this case for clear error, United States v. Panet-
______________ ______

Collazo, 960 F.2d 256, 262 (1st Cir. 1992), and we have found
_______

none, we affirm. The court properly assigned the minimum

statutory sentence available to appellant.

Both the United States and appellant have informed us,

however, that the new allegation in the sentencing hearing record

allows the Federal Correction Authority to apply more restrictive


-2-


















incarceration measures to appellant pursuant to the government's

classification procedure. Because appellant had no opportunity

to rebut the new allegation, we urge the United States and

appellant to address this matter together with the Bureau of

Prisons to insure that appellant receives a proper

classification.

Affirmed.
________




































-3-







Reference

Status
Published