In U.S. v. Martinez, No. 08-13846 (Oct. 5, 2009) (Marcus, Hill & Voorhees, b.d.), the Court reversed an "organizer or leader" sentence enhancement, under USSG § 3B1.1(a), that had been imposed on a defendant convicted of marijuana trafficking.
At his plea colloquy, Martinez admitted that he "orchestrated" weekly shipments of mail parcels containing marijuana from Texas to various locations in the Middle District of Florida. Despite this admission, the Court concluded that the government failed to establish that Martinez was an "organizing or leader," as defined by the seven explanatory factors listed in Comment four of USSG § 3B1.1.
The Court found that the term "orchestrate" is not synonymous with control. Orchestrate may mean no more than coordinating a transaction, as opposed to creating or managing it.
Further, the government presented no evidence that Martinez had decision-making authority. The "bare" record also did not indicate Martinez’ relative responsibility in relation to others. Nor was there evidence that Martinez recruited any co-conspirators, claimed a larger share of the proceeds of the crime, or whether he acted at the behest of a supervisor. At the sentencing hearing, Martinez alleged that he did not know who the leader of the group was. While Martinez admitted that he had co-conspirators, the evidence did not indicate that these persons were his subordinates.
The Court stated that at re-sentencing, the government could present evidence in support of the claimed leadership enhancement.
