United States v. Elias Barrios DeLaRosa

Elias Barrios DeLaRosa appeals his 135-month sentence for possession with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine while aboard a vessel subject to the United States’s jurisdiction, in violation of 46 App. U.S.C. §§ 1903(a), (g); 18 U.S.C. § 2; and 21 U.S.C. § 960(b)(l)(B)(ii), and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine while aboard a vessel subject to the United States’s jurisdiction, in violation of 46 App. U.S.C. §§ 1903(a), (g), & (j), and 21 U.S.C. § 960(b)(1)(B)(ii). DeLaRosa argues that he should have received a minor-role reduction pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2.

We have held that a district court’s determination of a defendant’s role in an offense is a finding of fact, to be reviewed for clear error. United States v. De Varon, 175 F.3d 930 (11th Cir. 1999) (en banc). The guidelines allow a court to decrease a defendant’s offense level by two points if the court finds the defendant was a minor participant. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b). A defendant who “is less culpable than most other participants, but whose role could not be described as minimal” is a minor participant. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2, comment. (n.5). Under the requisite standards articulated in De Varon, we cannot say that the district court clearly erred in denying the downward departure here.

AFFIRMED