United States v. Beltran-Leon, No. 19-2615 (7th Cir. 2021)
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For years, Beltran was a high-level lieutenant in the Sinaloa Cartel drug-trafficking organization. He pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Beltran had never previously been arrested. Although his plea declaration referenced a single transaction involving 46 kilograms of cocaine, his lawyer agreed that Beltran was involved with the movement of hundreds of kilograms of controlled substances in multiple transactions with the sons of El Chapo.
The government proposed that Beltran was responsible for more than 450 kilograms of cocaine and 10 kilograms of heroin. The probation office and the court concurred. The court applied sentencing enhancements for use of a firearm, bribery, criminal livelihood, and leader or organizer of criminal activity but rejected enhancements for the use of violence; maintaining a stash house, and obstruction of justice. From an adjusted offense level of 48, the court subtracted three levels for acceptance of responsibility. The Guidelines “range” was life imprisonment. Beltran’s argued that the Mexican authorities who effected his arrest tortured him before turning him over, overriding the section 3553(a) concerns. The judge referenced an article that had not been disclosed to the parties, indicating that Mexican law enforcement suffered hundreds of deaths at the hands of drug cartels, and expressing his “personal hurt” as a person of Mexican descent. The Seventh Circuit affirmed his 28-year sentence, expressing “complete confidence that none of the discussed factors affected the selection of Beltran’s sentence.”
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