United States v. Qualls

SENTENCING MEMORANDUM

ADELMAN, District Judge.

Defendant Brian Qualls pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. 18 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(C) & 846. The pre-sentence report (PSR) calculated his base offense level (“OL”) as 30 based on drug weight and his criminal history category (“CHC”) as IV under the sentencing guidelines. However, because he had two prior drug trafficking convictions, the PSR designated defendant a career offender under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, which raised his base OL to 34 and his CHC to VI. Following a reduction for acceptance…