Marcus Boyd

Jurisdiction: Federal
Offense: Distribution of cocaine base; possession with intent to distribute cocaine base
Priors: 10 separate convictions for driving on suspended license between 1995 and 1999
Year of birth: 1975
Date of sentencing: 2000

Marcus was arrested on August 20, 1999, after selling 3.9 grams of crack cocaine to a confidential informant (CI) working with the St. Clair Drug Task Force. He met the informant through a close family friend. Marcus was carrying an additional 1.7 grams of crack in his pocket at the time of the arrest and was held accountable for 5.6 grams of crack. At trial, he presented an entrapment defense but was found guilty. At sentencing, the judge based the drug quantity calculation on testimony from the informant and another witness, who both claimed they bought crack from Marcus many times in the past. Although only 5.6 grams of crack were attributed to Marcus at the time of his arrest, he was held accountable for 37.4 grams based on the statements made by the informant and the other witness.

 At the time of his arrest, Marcus was 24 years old and had been addicted to drugs for six years, beginning shortly after his mother’s death in 1993 and escalating throughout his early twenties. Marcus didn’t have a close relationship with his father and consequently alternated living with each of his three half-siblings after his mother died. Although Marcus didn’t graduate from high school, he obtained his GED and held various jobs in the lawn care industry, fast food restaurants and factory work before going to prison. His two children were six and seven at the time of his sentencing.

What do you think Marcus’s sentence should have been?
The amount of drugs involved in the offense gave Marcus a base offense level of 30 and an adjusted guideline level of 32 after he received a two-point enhancement for obstruction of justice. Even though the state circuit court had vacated his priors to terms that yielded no criminal history points, Marcus’ sentencing judge concluded that this did not accurately reflect his past criminal conduct and departed upward to a criminal history category of III. Marcus thus received two concurrent 169-month (14 years, 1 month) sentences. Had Marcus only been held accountable for the drugs involved in the sale and on his person, his original guideline level would have been 26 and carried a maximum sentence of 121 months, even with the two-point enhancement and criminal history category of III.