[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
________________________ ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
July 11, 2005
No. 04-16101 THOMAS K. KAHN
Non-Argument Calendar CLERK
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 04-00261-CR-T-27-MAP
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
SILVARIO HEREA-MARTINEZ,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
_________________________
(July 11, 2005)
Before BIRCH, DUBINA and BARKETT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Appellant Herea-Martinez, through counsel, appeals his 135-month
sentence for conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute five kilograms
or more of cocaine while aboard a vessel subject to the United States jurisdiction,
in violation of 46 App. U.S.C. § 1903(a), (g), and (j) and 21 U.S.C.
960(b)(1)(B)(ii). On appeal, Herea-Martinez argues that the district court erred in
denying his request for a mitigating-role reduction. He also argues that the court
committed reversible error under Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. ___, 124 S. Ct.
2531, 159 L. Ed. 2d 403 (2004), and United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. ___, 125 S.
Ct. 738, 160 L. Ed. 2d 621 (2005), when it (1) denied his request for a mitigating-
role reduction on the basis of facts neither alleged in the indictment nor admitted
by him, and (2) sentenced him under a mandatory Guidelines system.
Mitigating-Role Reduction
“[A] district court’s determination of a defendant’s role in the offense is a
question of fact to be reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard.” United
States v. De Varon, 175 F.3d 930, 938 (11th Cir. 1999) (en banc). A defendant
who is “plainly among the least culpable of those involved in the conduct of a
group,” is entitled to a four-level reduction for his minimal role in the offense.
U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(a), cmt. n.4. A defendant “who is less culpable than most other
participants, but whose role could not be described as minimal” is entitled to a
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two-level reduction for his minor role. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b), cmt. n.5. “The
proponent of the downward adjustment . . . always bears the burden of proving a
mitigating role in the offense by a preponderance of the evidence.” De Varon, 175
F.3d 939.
In De Varon, we established a two-part test for whether a mitigating-role
reduction is appropriate. See id. at 940-45. In applying the first prong, “the
district court must measure the defendant’s role against the relevant conduct for
which [he] has been held accountable.” Id. at 940. “[W]here the relevant conduct
attributed to a defendant is identical to [his] actual conduct, [he] cannot prove that
[he] is entitled to a minor [or minimal] role adjustment simply by pointing to some
broader criminal scheme in which [he] was a minor participant but for which [he]
was not held accountable.” Id. at 941. “[W]hen a drug courier’s relevant conduct
is limited to [his] own act of importation, a district court may legitimately
conclude that the courier played an important or essential role in the importation
of those drugs.” Id. at 942-43. Critically, the first prong of De Varon is often
dispositive. Id. at 945. “Only if a defendant can establish that [he] played a
relatively minor role in the conduct for which [he] has already been held
accountable . . . should the district court grant a downward adjustment for minor
role in the offense.” Id. at 944.
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In the second prong of the De Varon analysis, the district court may assess a
defendant’s relative culpability vis-a-vis “other participants in the relevant
conduct.” Id. at 944. “The conduct of participants in any larger criminal
conspiracy is irrelevant.” Id. However, “[t]he fact that a defendant’s role may be
less than that of other participants engaged in the relevant conduct may not be
dispositive of role in the offense, since it is possible that none are minor or
minimal participants.” Id. The district court has “considerable discretion in
making the fact-intensive determination.” United States v. Boyd, 291 F.3d 1274,
1277-78 (11th Cir. 2002).
Here, the record supports the district court’s findings that the conduct
attributed to Herea-Martinez was identical to his actual conduct and that he did not
demonstrate that he was less culpable than his codefendants. Accordingly, we
conclude that the district court did not clearly err, and we affirm the district court’s
denial of Herea-Martinez’s request for a mitigating-role reduction.
Blakely/Booker
When an applicant has timely objected to the application of the Sentencing
Guidelines, we review his Blakely/Booker claim “in order to determine whether
the error was harmless.” United States v. Mathenia, No. 04-15250, slip. op. at
2328 (11th Cir. May 23, 2005). “[C]onstitutional errors are harmless where the
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government can show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the error did not contribute
to the defendant’s ultimate sentence.” Id.
A non-constitutional error is harmless if, viewing the proceedings in
their entirety, a court determines that the error did not affect the
sentence, or had but very slight effect. If one can say with fair
assurance . . . that the sentence was not substantially swayed by the
error, the sentence is due to be affirmed even though there was error.
Id. at 2328-29 (quotations and alterations omitted). “It is as difficult for the
government to meet that standard as it is for a defendant to meet the third-prong
prejudice standard for plain error review.” Id. at 2329; see also United States v.
Rodriguez, 398 F.3d 1291, 1301 (11th Cir.) (describing the defendant’s burden
under plain-error analysis), cert. denied, (U.S. June 20, 2005) (No. 04-1148).
In Blakely, the Supreme Court struck down an upward departure imposed
under Washington state sentencing guidelines that was based solely on judicial
factfinding, clarifying that the relevant “statutory maximum’ for Apprendi1
purposes is the maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the
facts reflected in the jury verdict or admitted by the defendant.” 542 U.S. at ___,
124 S. Ct. at 2534-38. In Booker, the Supreme Court extended this holding to the
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Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490, 120 S. Ct. 2348, 2362-63, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435
(2000) (holding that “[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty
for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved
beyond a reasonable doubt”).
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Federal Sentencing Guidelines. 543 U.S. at ___, 125 S. Ct. at 756. To cure the
Sixth Amendment violation in Booker, the Supreme Court (1) exercised two
statutory provisions that reinforced the mandatory nature of the Guidelines, (2)
held that the Guidelines were advisory, and (3) determined that sentences should
be reviewed on appeal for reasonableness, considering the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)
factors.2 Id. at ___, 125 S. Ct. at 764.
We have held that there could be two distinct Booker errors – (1) the error
of imposing a sentence enhancement based on judicial findings that go beyond the
facts admitted by the defendant or found by the jury, or “constitutional error”; and
(2) the error of being sentenced under a mandatory guidelines system, or “statutory
error.” See Mathenia, No. 04-15250, slip op. at 2328. When there is no
constitutional Booker error, this court still must determine whether the non-
constitutional Booker error in sentencing a defendant under the Guidelines as
mandatory constituted reversible error. See United States v. Gallegos-Aguero, No.
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The factors set forth in § 3553(a) include, among others: “(1) the nature and
circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant; (2) the need for
the sentence imposed to (A) to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the
law, and to provide just punishment for the offense; (B) afford adequate deterrence to criminal
conduct; (C) to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant; and (D) to provide the
defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional
treatment in the most effective manner; (3) the kinds of sentences available; . . . (6) the need to
avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar records who have been
found guilty of similar conduct; and (7) the need to provide restitution to any victims of the
offense.” 18 U.S.C. § 1353(a).
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04-14242, slip op. at 2308 (11th Cir. May 18, 2005) (holding that “[t]he use of the
guidelines as mandatory [is] error, even in the absence of a Sixth Amendment
violation”).
In the preserved error context where the government bears the burden of
proving that the statutory error is harmless, we have affirmed a defendant’s
sentence, despite the Booker error when the district court stated its sentences
would be the same even if the Supreme Court affirmed the decision in Booker and
held that “under Blakely, the United States Sentencing Guidelines [were]
unconstitutional . . . .” See Mathenia, No. 04-15250, slip. op. at 2328-30.
Although Herea-Martinez suggests that the district court committed a
constitutional Booker error in denying his request for a mitigating-role reduction
on the basis of facts neither alleged in the indictment nor admitted by him, (1) by
its own terms Booker refers only to factors that increase a defendant’s sentence,
see Booker, 543 U.S. at ___, 125 S. Ct. at 756; and (2) even if Booker applied to
sentence reductions, the sentencing court denied Herea-Martinez’s request for a
role reduction on the basis of acts that Herea-Martinez admitted during the
change-of-plea hearing. Accordingly, we conclude that the district court did not
commit a constitutional Booker error.
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In regard to the non-constitutional Booker error, because the district court
sentenced Herea-Martinez at the bottom of his guideline range and did not offer an
indication that its sentence would have been the same if the Guidelines were not
mandatory, the government cannot show “with fair assurance” that the mandatory
nature of the Guidelines did not substantially sway Herea-Martinez’s sentence.
See Mathenia, No. 04-15250, slip op. at 2329. Therefore, the statutory Booker
error is not harmless.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s denial of Herea-
Martinez’s request for a mitigating-role reduction, but we vacate Herea-Martinez’s
sentence and remand this case for resentencing consistent with Blakely and
Booker.
AFFIRMED in part and VACATED and REMANDED in part.
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