Case: 17-10183 Date Filed: 09/10/2018 Page: 1 of 13 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 17-10183 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ D.C. Docket No. 0:16-cr-60180-DTKH-1 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus JUAN CARLOS FLORES-PEREZ, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ________________________ (September 10, 2018) Before ROSENBAUM, HULL, and JULIE CARNES, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 17-10183 Date Filed: 09/10/2018 Page: 2 of 13 Juan Carlos Flores-Perez challenges the 210-month sentence he received after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(viii), and 846. Flores-Perez maintains that the district court erred in three ways: (1) failing to apply a reduction for a mitigating role in the offense; (2) sentencing him based in part on the drug-purity-based methamphetamine guidelines; and (3) otherwise imposing a substantively unreasonable sentence. For the reasons explained below, we reject each of these arguments and affirm his sentence. I. Flores-Perez was arrested after selling over 6 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine to an undercover officer and discussing the sale of an additional 32 kilograms of the same drug. The deal was arranged through a confidential informant, who Flores-Perez had approached and asked about buyers for a large amount of crystal methamphetamine or heroin. The confidential informant put Flores-Perez in touch with the undercover officer, and they arranged the 6- kilogram sale, for $17,000 per kilogram. Flores-Perez had the confidential informant drive him to South Florida to make the sale. Before the sale, Flores- Perez sent the undercover officer a package containing a sample of the crystal methamphetamine so that the undercover officer could test its quality. 2 Case: 17-10183 Date Filed: 09/10/2018 Page: 3 of 13 In the presentencing-investigation report (“PSR”), Flores-Perez was held accountable for 4.5 kilograms or more of methamphetamine with a purity level of at least 80 percent, also known as “Ice” methamphetamine, which corresponded to the highest base offense level (38) in the drug-quantity table of the 2016 Guidelines Manual. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(1); Id. § 2D1.1(c), Notes to Drug Quantity Table, n.(C) (defining “Ice”). He received a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility. See U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1. The PSR also addressed his criminal history, noting two prior arrests for transporting large quantities of drugs, including, on one occasion, 4 kilograms of methamphetamine, 2.7 kilograms of heroin, and 15 kilograms of cocaine. The PSR recommended a total offense level of 35, which, combined with his criminal history category of III, established a recommended guideline imprisonment range of 210 to 262 months. The statutory sentencing range was 10 years to life imprisonment. 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(viii). The PSR also noted that Flores-Perez was subject to removal from the United States upon completion of the term of imprisonment. Though Flores-Perez now argues that the district court erred in failing to apply a mitigating-role reduction, he did not object to the PSR’s omission of such ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals