United States v. Turner

Full title: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jason M. TURNER…

Court: United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

Date published: Jan 30, 2007

215 F. App'x 347 (5th Cir. 2007)

Opinion

No. 05-30913, Summary Calendar.

January 30, 2007.

Cristina Walker, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Donald E. Hathaway, Jr, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Louisiana, Shreveport, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Michael Allyn Stroud, Wiener, Weiss Madison, Shreveport, LA, for Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana (05:04-CR-50170-1).

Before DAVIS, BARKSDALE, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:[fn*] [fn*] Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.

Jason Turner appeals his 210-month sentence, following his guilty-plea conviction, for conspiracy to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine or 500 grams or more of a substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 and 846. Turner contends the district court erroneously enhanced his sentence, pursuant to Sentencing Guidelines § 3B1.1(c), for directing and supervising another participant's activities.

A factual finding that a defendant was an organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor under § 3B1.1(c) is reviewed only for clear error. E.g., United States v. Gonzales, 436 F.3d 560, 584 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 126 S.Ct. 2363, 165 L.Ed.2d 280 (2006). Among other things, the presentence report stated Turner's roommate, Guy Wilbanks, served as Turner's personal assistant in distributing drugs and maintaining Turner's financial records; and, at sentencing, a police officer gave unrebutted testimony that Wilbanks drove a drug shipment from Phoenix to Dallas at Turner's direction. Therefore, the district court did not clearly err in imposing the enhancement. E.g., United States v. Turner, 319 F.3d 716, 725 (5th Cir.) (upholding a § 3B1.1(c) two-level enhancement when the district court did not clearly err in finding defendant was an "organizer, leader, manager, or supervisor" in a marijuana conspiracy), cert. denied, 538 U.S. 1017, 123 S.Ct. 1939, 155 L.Ed.2d 857 (2003).

Because the district court did not err in imposing the § 3B1.1(c) enhancement, we need not reach Turner's contention that his resulting bottom-of-the-advisory-Guidelines-range sentence is unreasonable.

AFFIRMED.