United States v. Guzman

[NOT FOR PUBLICATION] UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 96-1449 UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. JOSE GUZMAN, Defendant, Appellant. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. Mark L. Wolf, U.S. District Judge] Before Selya, Circuit Judge, Cyr, Senior Circuit Judge, Boudin, Circuit Judge. Jose Guzman on brief pro se. Donald K. Stern, United States Attorney, William F. Sinnott, Assistant United States Attorney, and Carolyn Crotty Guttilla, Suffolk University Law School, on brief for appellee. December 16, 1997 Per Curiam. In this appeal from his sentence, Jose Guzman raises three issues which he concedes were not raised in the district court. Accordingly, "his sentence can be reversed on [these grounds] only upon a showing of 'plain error.'" United States v. Olivier-Diaz, 13 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir. 1993). After careful review of the record, we conclude that appellant has failed to make such a showing with respect to any of the issues he raises on appeal. The district court adopted the undisputed facts contained in the PSR, as permitted by Fed.R.Crim.P. 32. See United States v. Van, 87 F.3d 1, 3 (1st Cir. 1996). It was not "plain error" for the district court to find that those facts supported a finding that the substance distributed by appellant was "cocaine base" as that term is defined by the Sentencing Guidelines for the purposes of sentence enhancement. See U.S.S.G. 2D1.1(c) and note (D). Nor does appellant's new sentencing factor manipulation claim provide a basis for reversing his sentence. "[S]entencing factor manipulation is a claim only for the extreme and unusual case." United States v. Montoya, 62 F.3d 1, 4 (1st Cir. 1995). As we reasoned in a recent case in which a similar claim was made, "[g]overnment agents are not limited to replicating a suspect's largest unsolicited crime. In this case, the full contours of the criminal operation -- its size, techniques, personnel -- were, like an iceberg, -2- largely submerged; and the means of exploration were additional and larger transactions. . . . While the sting could not be endlessly prolonged and enlarged, nothing in the objective facts suggests 'misconduct' at all, let alone 'extraordinary' misconduct.'" United States v. Egemonye, 62 F.3d 425 (1st Cir. 1995). Appellant's final argument is based upon his mistaken impression that the district court did not apply a three- level reduction in his base offense level for acceptance of responsibility, pursuant to the United States Sentencing Guidelines, 3E1.1. Our careful review of the record reveals that the district court adopted the guideline application contained in the presentence report, including a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility. Therefore, appellant's final claim is entirely without merit. Appellant's sentence is affirmed. -3-