United States v. Jones, No. 14-2864 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseATF agents learned that Jones and an accomplice were robbing Little Rock drug dealers. An undercover ATF convinced Jones that he was running cocaine and wanted to rob a stash house. The story was false. During recorded meetings, Jones and the agent planned to rob the house at gunpoint, kill the guards, and steal cocaine. Jones, carrying four loaded guns, met the agent at a hotel to finalize their plans. The next morning, they met to conduct the robbery. Jones followed the agent to pick up a car for use during the robbery. Other agents were waiting and saw Jones take objects from his waistband and throw them under the vehicle. Agents found three loaded guns on the ground and another inside Jones's vehicle, later identified as those seen at the hotel. Jones pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use or carry a firearm during and in relation to a drug-trafficking crime, 18 U.S.C. 924(o). Jones requested a three-level reduction under U.S.S.G. 2X1.1(b)(2), because the object of the conspiracy could not have come to fruition, "unless . . . the conspirators were about to complete all [acts necessary to complete the substantive offense] but for … interruption by some … event beyond their control." Jones’s Guidelines range was 210–262 months; with the reduction, it would have been 151–188 months. The Eighth Circuit affirmed his sentence of 210 months.
Court Description: Melloy, Author, with Murphy and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. The district court did not clearly err in denying defendant's request for a three-level reduction under Guidelines Sec. 2X1.1(b)(2) based on its finding that defendant would have completed all of the steps necessary to complete the object of the conspiracy but for federal agents' intervention.
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