United States v. Garcia-Sierra, No. 16-2503 (1st Cir. 2021)
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The First Circuit affirmed Defendant's conviction for conspiring to commit drug trafficking offenses but remanded the case for resentencing, holding that the district court erred in imposing a two-level enhancement to Defendant's base offense level.
A jury convicted Defendant of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and conspiracy to import narcotics into the United States, and the district court imposed a sentence of approximately 224 months, reflecting a sentence at the lowest end of the recommended range. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the trial court erred in permitting the government to solicit "overview" testimony and in allowing the government to present evidence relating to a previous cocaine seizure, but both errors were harmless; and (2) while Defendant's claim that there was an unwarranted disparity between his sentence and those of his codefendants lacked merit, the district court erred by imposing a supervisory role enhancement without identifying evidence that Defendant played a supervisory role in the conspiracy.
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