United States v. Fernandez-Barron, No. 18-1254 (10th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this Case
The government alleged that defendant Carlos Fernandez-Baron participated in a drug ring that repeatedly transported large quantities of cocaine from El Paso to Denver. The government relied in part on a text message asking Fernandez-Barron about the timetable for delivery of a “BMW.” An expert witness for the government testified that “BMW” was code for a load delivery of cocaine (rather than an actual BMW). Fernandez-Barron denied that the message referred to cocaine, testifying that he had been in the process of selling his BMW and arranging to deliver the car. References to an Impala stemmed from testimony by another participant in the drug ring, Martha Mota. Mota stated that one of the men was the same person depicted in a photograph of Fernandez-Barron, but she couldn’t recognize this man in the courtroom during the trial. Fernandez-Barron was ultimately convicted on charges of conspiracy, distribution, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. At sentencing, the district court found Fernandez-Barron perjured himself when testifying that he had sold a BMW in May 2014 and did not own an Impala. Based on the perjury, the court imposed a two-level enhancement for obstruction of justice. Fernandez-Barron appealed, challenging the enhancement for obstruction of justice. The Tenth Circuit concluded the district court did not err in
applying the enhancement.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.