United States v. Sanchez, 979 F.3d 1256

Federal 125-count indictment after 18-month investigation of Lopez’s multi-state meth distribution; Sanchez indicted among ten defendants and tried with one co-defendant.
Wiretap/transcript evidence showed Sanchez purchased meth from Lopez on multiple occasions (six purchases over ~30 days), arranging deliveries via Lopez’s couriers and reselling at Lopez’s price; some purchases were "fronted."
Jury convicted Sanchez on ten counts and found he conspired to distribute 500+ grams of methamphetamine; acquitted as to cocaine conspiracy.
PSR attributed an additional uncharged March 24, 2017 meth purchase (481.95 g) to Sanchez for guideline calculations; district court adopted PSR and held total at 2.66 kg (base offense level 32).
Had the March 24 amount been excluded total would be 2.18 kg and base level would remain 32; district court imposed a downward variant sentence of 132 months (below the 151–188 mos. guideline range).
Sanchez appealed claiming (1) a fatal variance between the single charged conspiracy and the narrower conspiracy proved at trial, and (2) sentencing error in drug-quantity attribution.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a fatal variance existed between the single conspiracy charged and the proof at trial	Sanchez: Trial proved only a smaller conspiracy he joined; evidence of larger, multi-defendant conspiracy caused prejudicial guilt-spillover	Gov: Evidence showed Sanchez’s direct role in a narrower meth conspiracy and jury could compartmentalize; any variance not prejudicial	Even assuming a variance, it was not fatal — no substantial prejudice; conviction affirmed
Whether sentencing improperly included an uncharged March 24 drug purchase in quantity calculation	Sanchez: PSR’s inclusion of an uncharged 481.95 g purchase inflated drug quantity and affected sentencing	Gov: Any miscalculation is harmless because it did not change Sanchez’s Guidelines range; district court also gave a downward variance	Error, if any, was harmless; Guidelines range unchanged and sentence affirmed

United States v. Caldwell, 589 F.3d 1323 (10th Cir. 2009) (elements required to prove conspiracy)
United States v. Carnagie, 533 F.3d 1231 (10th Cir. 2008) (variance reversible only if prejudicial; multi-factor test)
Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750 (1946) (risk of prejudice rises with number of defendants/conspiracies)
United States v. Hill, 786 F.3d 1254 (10th Cir. 2015) (circuit precedent on numerosity and spillover analysis)
United States v. McClatchey, 217 F.3d 823 (10th Cir. 2000) (prejudice standard for variance; review de novo)
United States v. Sells, 477 F.3d 1226 (10th Cir. 2007) (defendant bears burden to show fatal variance)
United States v. Anthony, 942 F.3d 955 (10th Cir. 2019) (prejudice exists where defendant lacked notice or guilt was imputed from other conspiracies)
United States v. Todd, 515 F.3d 1128 (10th Cir. 2008) (standard of review for sentencing guideline calculations)
United States v. Battle, 706 F.3d 1313 (10th Cir. 2013) (drug-quantity calculation errors harmless where Guidelines range unaffected)
United States v. Serrato, 742 F.3d 461 (10th Cir. 2014) (remand unwarranted when speculation about a different variance is unsupported)