United States v. Matthew Stewart
2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 14818
| 9th Cir. | 2014Background
- Matthew Stewart pled guilty to two counts of distributing GHB under 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) after undercover buys and DEA seizure showed ~11,359 mL (~3 gallons) of liquid containing detectable GHB.
- Stewart had two prior state felony drug-distribution convictions (2002 ecstasy, 2005 cocaine) that triggered career-offender treatment under U.S.S.G. §§ 4B1.1–4B1.2, raising his criminal-history category to VI.
- Career-offender calculation used the 20-year statutory maximum for GHB, setting offense level at 32 and a guidelines range of 151–188 months; the district court varied downward and imposed 120 months.
- Stewart appealed, arguing (1) the Sentencing Commission exceeded § 994(h) authority by treating state convictions as predicates for career-offender status, and (2) his 120-month sentence was substantively unreasonable given the extremely low purity/usability of the GHB and alleged overrepresentation by the career-offender guidelines.
- The Ninth Circuit reaffirmed prior precedent that § 994(h) reasonably supports including comparable state offenses as predicates and held the sentence reasonable under an abuse-of-discretion review, while noting the district court likely erred in treating purity as irrelevant under the non-career-offender guidelines.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (Stewart) | Defendant's Argument (Government) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Validity of career-offender guideline treatment of state convictions | § 994(h) limits predicate convictions to federal offenses described in the listed statutes; state convictions cannot trigger career-offender status | § 994(h) is ambiguous and reasonably read to cover state convictions involving conduct that could have been federally charged; Commission authority allows inclusion of state offenses | Ninth Circuit affirmed Rivera: Commission’s interpretation is permissible; state controlled-substance convictions may qualify as career-offender predicates |
| Substantive reasonableness of 120-month sentence (purity/usability and career-offender overreach) | Very low GHB purity made the mixture effectively unusable, so quantity-based guideline calculation overstates offense; career-offender provisions over-represent risk | District court properly calculated career-offender range (which for GHB hinges on statutory max regardless of quantity); district court considered § 3553(a) factors and reasonably varied downward | Sentence affirmed as reasonable overall. Court found the district court likely mistaken about purity’s irrelevance under non-career guidelines but that error did not render the 120-month sentence unreasonable |
Key Cases Cited
- United States v. Rivera, 996 F.2d 993 (9th Cir. 1993) (upholding career-offender treatment based on state controlled-substance convictions)
- United States v. LaBonte, 520 U.S. 751 (1997) (invalidating a Guidelines definition that conflicted with § 994(h))
- United States v. Sprague, 135 F.3d 1301 (9th Cir. 1998) (marketable-material approach: unusable mixtures excluded from drug-weight calculation)
- United States v. Robins, 967 F.2d 1387 (9th Cir. 1992) (cornmeal mixed with trace cocaine treated as packaging/unusable material and excluded from weight)
- Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38 (2007) (sentencing review framework; appellate reasonableness review)