United States v. Demarrio Barker, 80 F.4th 827

Barker sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant in two controlled buys (109.8 g on June 22, 2020; 106.4 g on July 31, 2020) from a secondary residence on East Broadway in Kokomo, Indiana.
Police obtained search warrants for both the East Broadway (secondary) and West Havens (primary) residences and planned simultaneous execution on November 30, 2020; Barker flew to California that morning.
On November 30 police stopped Barker’s wife at West Havens; she FaceTimed Barker and he asked whether police had a warrant; minutes later Barker called his friend Sirtorry Carr for 51 seconds.
Observers saw Carr exit East Broadway with a trash bag, enter an abandoned house next door, and return without it; officers recovered a trash bag containing three firearms and 464 g methamphetamine.
Carr initially gave inconsistent accounts, later told Special Agent Collins the bag belonged to Barker and that Barker instructed him to remove it; Carr pleaded guilty to a firearm count in federal court.
The probation office amended the PSR to attribute the 464 g and firearms to Barker and added enhancements (firearms, maintaining premises, obstruction), raising the guideline range; the district court found Carr’s account sufficiently corroborated by the chronology and adopted the amended PSR, sentencing Barker to 300 months; the Seventh Circuit affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Use of hearsay at sentencing: whether Carr’s statements were reliable enough to increase drug quantity and apply enhancements	Gov't: Carr’s statements were corroborated (timing of calls, surveillance, Barker’s prior use of the East Broadway stash house), so hearsay was sufficiently reliable for sentencing	Barker: Carr’s statements were inconsistent, self-serving, and motivated by his own charges; hearsay was unreliable and should not determine guidelines	Court: Affirmed — confrontation rules don’t apply at sentencing; court may rely on hearsay with sufficient indicia of reliability; chronology and corroboration supported crediting Carr’s statements
Obstruction enhancement (U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1): whether Barker willfully attempted to obstruct justice by directing Carr to hide evidence	Gov't: Barker’s call and instruction to Carr to remove the bag show willful attempt to conceal evidence and obstruct the impending search	Barker: Challenges sufficiency and reliability of the evidence of intent; argues enhancement not supported	Court: Affirmed — specific intent to obstruct may be inferred from conduct; facts supported willfulness and attempted concealment

United States v. Brown, 973 F.3d 667 (7th Cir. 2020) (rules of evidence and Confrontation Clause do not apply at sentencing; hearsay may be used if reliable)
United States v. Jones, 371 F.3d 363 (7th Cir. 2004) (strong presumption of unreliability for government-involved, untested hearsay applies at trial)
United States v. Isom, 635 F.3d 904 (7th Cir. 2011) (trial presumption of unreliability does not apply at sentencing; reliability assessed by totality and corroboration)
United States v. Hankton, 432 F.3d 779 (7th Cir. 2005) (sentencing hearsay must have sufficient indicia of reliability to support probable accuracy)
United States v. Zehm, 217 F.3d 506 (7th Cir. 2000) (when a witness gives inconsistent statements, district court must explain crediting one over others)
United States v. McEntire, 153 F.3d 424 (7th Cir. 1998) (district court must undertake sufficiently searching inquiry into contradictory evidence)
United States v. Rollerson, 7 F.4th 565 (7th Cir. 2021) (best practice to have declarant testify when hearsay will substantially affect guideline range)
United States v. Mikulski, 35 F.4th 1074 (7th Cir. 2022) (attempted obstruction suffices for § 3C1.1 enhancement)