USA v. GRISSOM,
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in USA v. GRISSOM,, No. 06-10688, a criminal appeal. The panel consisted of John R. Gibson, A. Wallace Tashima, and Marsha S. Berzon, Circuit Judges.
TASHIMA, Circuit Judge:
The United States appeals the sentence imposed on Larry James Grissom following Grissom’s guilty plea and conviction for distribution of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a). The government contends that the district court erred in rejecting quantities of crack cocaine from two dismissed counts when calculating Grissom’s base offense level under the United States Sentencing Guidelines (”Guidelines”). It argues that the quantities, properly considered, would have resulted in a Guidelines range 21 months higher than the sentence imposed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742(b) and 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we vacate Grissom’s sentence and remand. BACKGROUND On July 5, 2005, a witness cooperating with federal agents arranged to purchase one ounce of crack cocaine from Grissom in the parking lot of a Best Buy store in East Palo Alto. A short time later, the witness and Grissom completed the transaction. Less than a week later, on July 11, 2005, a cooperating witness contacted an individual named Larry Darnell Hill, Jr., to arrange the purchase of two ounces of crack cocaine. Hill told . . .