[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED
________________________ U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
No. 05-12907 MARCH 14, 2006
Non-Argument Calendar THOMAS K. KAHN
CLERK
________________________
D. C. Docket No. 04-00563-CR-T-23MAP
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
ELIAS BARRIOS DELAROSA,
a.k.a. Elias Barrios,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
_________________________
(March 14, 2006)
Before CARNES, BARKETT and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Elias Barrios DeLaRosa appeals his 135-month sentence for possession with
intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine while aboard a vessel subject to
the United States’s jurisdiction, in violation of 46 App. U.S.C. §§ 1903(a), (g); 18
U.S.C. § 2; and 21 U.S.C. § 960(b)(1)(B)(ii), and conspiracy to possess with intent
to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine while aboard a vessel subject to the
United States’s jurisdiction, in violation of 46 App. U.S.C. §§ 1903(a), (g), & (j),
and 21 U.S.C. § 960(b)(1)(B)(ii). DeLaRosa argues that he should have received a
minor-role reduction pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2.
We have held that a district court’s determination of a defendant’s role in an
offense is a finding of fact, to be reviewed for clear error. United States v. De
Varon, 175 F.3d 930 (11th Cir. 1999) (en banc). The guidelines allow a court to
decrease a defendant’s offense level by two points if the court finds the defendant
was a minor participant. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2(b). A defendant who “is less culpable
than most other participants, but whose role could not be described as minimal” is
a minor participant. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2, comment. (n.5). Under the requisite
standards articulated in De Varon, we cannot say that the district court clearly erred
in denying the downward departure here.
AFFIRMED
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