USA v. Vargas, No. 21-20140 (5th Cir. 2023)
Annotate this Case
Defendant pled guilty to conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it, in violation of 21 U.S.C. Sections 846, 841(a)(1), and 841(b)(1)(B). Defendant had two prior drug convictions for possessing amphetamine with intent to distribute it and conspiring to possess methamphetamine with intent to manufacture and distribute it. Because these and the instant offense were classified as controlled substance offenses, Defendant was deemed a career offender under § 4B1.1. Defendant appealed his career-offender designation.
On appeal, Defendant argued that conspiracies cannot qualify as controlled substance offenses because the guideline definition excludes inchoate crimes. A panel rejected his argument and then the Fifth Circuit granted en banc review.
The en banc court affirmed, finding that under Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36 (1993), a guideline comment is "authoritative unless it violates the Constitution or a federal statute, or is inconsistent with, or a plainly erroneous reading of, that guideline," neither of which applied here. In so holding, the Fifth Circuit joined the First, Second, Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on May 31, 2022.
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.