U.S. v. Turnipseed

Dist. Ct. did not err in imposing above-guidelines, 120-month term of incarceration on RICO conspiracy charge arising out of his drug-related activities on behalf of gang, even though Dist. Ct. applied attempted murder, as opposed to aggravated assault guidelines. Dist. Ct. could properly use attempted murder guidelines in view of defendant’s involvement in incident, where defendant shot at rival gang member over dispute regarding drug territory, but hit instead innocent bystander, and where Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendant had harbored intent to kill rival gang member. Also, Dist. Ct. could properly reject defendant’s argument that he was entitled to two-level reduction in offense level to reflect his minor participation in conspiracy, where: (1) Dist. Ct. could properly find that defendant had important role in conspiracy given his willingness to kill others to protect drug territory; and (2) others in conspiracy actually played minor roles in conspiracy as mere drug dealers with no evidence of violence. Also, Dist. Ct. gave adequate explanation for imposing above-guideline sentence that noted defendant’s admission to being felon in possession of firearm on multiple occasions and his inability to follow law, as well as fact that applicable guidelines were too low because they did not account for certain aggravating factors.