United States v. Helding, No. 18-3270 (7th Cir. 2020)
Annotate this CasePolice seized 143.7 kilograms of marijuana from Helding’s car and apartment. Harding pleaded guilty to possessing over 100 kilograms. At sentencing, the court held him responsible for the equivalent of 4,679.7 kilograms, based solely on the Presentence Investigation Report’s account that confidential informants told law enforcement Helding was dealing significant quantities of methamphetamine during the relevant period. The drug quantity determination resulted in his ultimate sentence of 18 years’ imprisonment; the quantity of 143.7 kilograms carries a sentencing range of 120-150 months. The quantity determined by the court carried a sentencing range to 210-262 months (plus five years for a firearm offense). The Seventh Circuit reversed and remanded for resentencing. A sentencing court acts within its discretion when it credits confidential informants’ statements about drug quantity, but when a defendant objects, the evidence supporting that quantity must be found to be reliable. The statements here fell short of that threshold. There was no description of the informants’ past work with law enforcement, their criminal history, the reliability of the accounts they had provided before, or whether and why officers believed the information provided to the probation office was reliable.
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.