United States v. Jesus Flores-Ramirez, 699 F. App'x 646

Defendant Jesus Jorge Flores-Ramirez was convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine (21 U.S.C. § 846) and distribution of cocaine (21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(ii)).
At trial, Special Agent Baker identified Flores-Ramirez as the person who delivered cocaine; identification included code names and matching a bill serial number. Photographs and an audio recording documented the transaction.
The government communicated with an intermediary via encrypted Blackberry to arrange the delivery; agents used an intermediary to meet the defendant.
The district court admitted the defendant’s confession at trial (admission challenged on appeal), and found the defendant had lied to investigators about key facts (knowledge of drugs in boxes, use of code words, countersurveillance driving).
The district court denied safety-valve relief under Rule 32 and denied a downward adjustment for acceptance of responsibility; those rulings were appealed.
The parties agreed remand was appropriate to allow the district court to consider Amendment 794 (minor-role reduction) under Quintero-Leyva, which is retroactive; the Ninth Circuit affirmed the convictions but vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admission of confession	Confession was properly admitted and, even if error, evidence of guilt was overwhelming	Admission was erroneous and prejudicial	Any error was harmless due to overwhelming evidence (affirm conviction)
Safety-valve relief under Rule 32	Defendant did not provide all truthful information about offense; denial proper	Defendant argued he qualified for safety-valve relief	Denial affirmed; defendant lied about key facts and thus failed truthfulness requirement
Acceptance-of-responsibility reduction	No adjustment: defendant denied significant aspects and lied about timing of knowledge	Defendant sought downward adjustment despite going to trial	Denial affirmed; district court found lies about timing of knowledge and other denials
Minor-role reduction (Amendment 794)	Remand so district court can consider new Amendment 794 factors per Quintero-Leyva	Agreed remand appropriate; applies retroactively	Sentence vacated and case remanded for resentencing to consider minor-role reduction

United States v. Butler, 249 F.3d 1094 (9th Cir. 2001) (harmless-error standard where confession admission challenged)
United States v. Carter, 219 F.3d 863 (9th Cir. 2000) (Rule 32 safety-valve compliance reviewed de novo)
United States v. Real-Hernandez, 90 F.3d 356 (9th Cir. 1996) (defendant must truthfully provide all information to qualify for safety-valve)
United States v. Fleming, 215 F.3d 930 (9th Cir. 2000) (acceptance-of-responsibility adjustment may be denied when defendant denies significant conduct)
United States v. Quintero-Leyva, 823 F.3d 519 (9th Cir. 2016) (Amendment 794 factors apply and can be considered retroactively)
United States v. Waknine, 543 F.3d 546 (9th Cir. 2008) (remand to same judge permissible when circumstances are not unusual)