United States v. Vernon
Opinion of the Court
Defendant-appellant Alonzo Vernon appeals from a judgment entered on November 1, 2005, by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Sprizzo, J.) sentencing Vernon to 120-months’ imprisonment following a jury verdict finding Vernon guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the facts, procedural history, and specification of issues on appeal.
We find that the District Court’s sentence was not unreasonable. See United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 264, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005) (“The courts of appeals review sentencing decisions for unreasonableness.”); United States v. Fernandez, 443 F.3d 19, 26 (2d Cir. 2006). Vernon’s argument that the District Court improperly sentenced him based on a drug quantity rejected by the jury is unpersuasive in light of this Court’s decision in United States v. Vaughn, 430 F.3d 518 (2d Cir. 2005), which held that the district court could properly sentence the defendants based on a drug quantity found by the court by a preponderance of the evidence, even though that quantity was rejected by the jury. See id. at 525-26. As we explained in Vaughn: “district
Furthermore, the District Court took into account the jury’s acquittal when assessing the government’s evidence. See Vaughn, 430 F.3d at 527 (“[District courts should consider the jury’s acquittal when assessing the weight and quality of the evidence presented by the prosecution and determining a reasonable sentence.”). The District Court discounted the drug quantity testified to by the cooperating witness due to the inexact nature of his testimony and the fact that as a cooperating witness, he may have had an incentive to provide an inflated number. Contrary to Vernon’s contention, the District Court’s finding by a preponderance of the evidence that the drug conspiracy at issue involved 750 grams of crack cocaine is neither erroneous nor tantamount to a rejection of the jury’s verdict. See id. (“We emphasize that there is no logical inconsistency in determining that a preponderance of the evidence supports a finding about which there remains a reasonable doubt____”). Accordingly, we find no basis to disturb the sentence imposed by the District Court.
For the reasons set forth above, the judgment of the District Court is hereby AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- United States v. Alonzo VERNON
- Status
- Published