United States v. Wilson, No. 19-7048 (10th Cir. 2021)
Annotate this CaseDefendant-appellant Dave Wilson pled guilty to selling 1.54 grams of methamphetamine to a police confidential informant. Along the way, however, he confessed to purchasing 113 grams of methamphetamine. Deeming that entire quantity “relevant conduct,” the district court sentenced defendant based on the 113 grams he admitted to possessing, rather than the 1.54 grams he was caught selling. Defendant appealed his sentence, claiming he personally consumed most of the 113 grams, and only sold some of it to support his habit. Defendant argued any personal-use quantity was not relevant for sentencing, and that the government failed to prove how much of the 113 grams defendant personally consumed versus how much he sold. The Tenth Circuit agreed the personal-use quantity should be excludable in this context, but defendant had the burden of coming forward with evidence to establish a personal-use quantity. No such evidence was entered into the trial court record. Nevertheless, because defendant’s burden to come forward with evidence of personal use was unclear before this opinion, the Tenth Circuit vacated the sentence and remanded so that Wilson could have the opportunity to put on evidence of personal use pertaining to the quantities of meth charged. Defendant’s sentence was vacated and the case remanded for resentencing.
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.