United States v. McCoy

MEMORANDUM

DALZELL, District Judge.

The sentencing hearing we conducted this day involved a technical but important question of the Sentencing Guidelines’ application that our Court of Appeals has yet to address. Specifically, the question has to do with the interplay of the so-called safety valve of U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2 with the “specific offense characteristics” provisions of U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(6). As will be seen, this issue is quite consequential to this defendant, who turns sixty-one in eight days.

James Rufus McCoy on January 5, 2001 pleaded guilty to Count 3 of the Indictment, which charged…