United States v. Swafford, No. 08-6462 (6th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThe defendant, owner of a home and garden store, was convicted of selling more than 3,000 gallons of iodine “knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe,” that it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine. 21 U.S.C. 841. The Sixth Circuit vacated two conspiracy convictions and 19 convictions for possessing iodine (on Double Jeopardy grounds) and remanded for sentencing based on the 19 convictions for iodine distribution. Because the crime “involved unlawfully manufacturing a controlled substance,” and there was an enhancement for obstruction of justice, the district court again imposed a 360-month sentence. The Sixth Circuit affirmed. It does not matter that the defendant was not convicted of manufacture; the evidence established that he had a “criminal plan, scheme, endeavor, or enterprise” with several methamphetamine cooks, that it was “reasonably foreseeable” that those customers would manufacture methamphetamine and that the sale of iodine was “in furtherance of the jointly undertaken criminal activity.” The below-guidelines sentence was reasonable.
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