United States v. Jesus Rodriguez


USCA11 Case: 20-13534 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 08/01/2023 Page: 1 of 30 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 20-13534 ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus JESUS RODRIGUEZ, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cr-20411-FAM-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 20-13534 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 08/01/2023 Page: 2 of 30 2 Opinion of the Court 20-13534 Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and JILL PRYOR and GRANT, Circuit Judges. JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judge: Jesus Rodriguez appeals his sentence for possession with in- tent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. There are four issues on appeal: whether (1) the district court erred in imposing a two-level en- hancement for maintaining a premises for the purpose of manufac- turing or distributing a controlled substance, under § 2D1.1(b)(12) of the Sentencing Guidelines, (2) Rodriguez’s sentence is procedur- ally and substantively unreasonable, (3) technical malfunctions during Rodriguez’s sentencing hearing conducted remotely via videoconference violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel at a critical stage of criminal proceedings, and (4) the district court erred by imposing conditions of supervised release in the written judgment that were not orally pronounced at the sentencing hear- ing. After careful review, and with the benefit of oral argument, we affirm Rodriguez’s sentence in part, vacate in part, and remand for limited resentencing as to the conditions of supervised release. I. BACKGROUND Rodriguez pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of a substance or mixture containing heroin and 50 grams or more of a substance or mixture containing metham- phetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). The mandatory minimum term of imprisonment was five years, and the statutory maximum was 40 years. USCA11 Case: 20-13534 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 08/01/2023 Page: 3 of 30 20-13534 Opinion of the Court 3 Rodriguez stipulated in a factual proffer that the following facts would have been proved at trial. Rodriguez manufactured counterfeit pills and conducted drug trafficking activity at his home. Law enforcement conducted multiple trash pulls at Rodri- guez’s home and found in his trash supplement packaging with un- known white powder, discarded pills, ventilator masks, and gloves. Police executed a search warrant of Rodriguez’s home and arrested him after they discovered him trying to flush counterfeit pills down the toilet. In their search of Rodriguez’s home, police found 56 grams of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine, approximately 300 grams of a mixture and substance containing heroin, a chemical mask, two scales, and $50,000 in cash. Before sentencing, the United States Probation Office pre- pared a presentence investigation report (“PSR”) to help the district court determine Rodriguez’s sentence. The PSR calculated a base offense level of 26 based on the combined quantity of heroin and methamphetamine found in his home. The PSR applied a two-level enhancement under § 2D1.1(b)(12) of the Sentencing Guidelines because Rodriguez had maintained a premises …

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