United States v. Derrick Norwood

MEMORANDUM

Derrick Tyrone Norwood appeals his sentence for sale of crack cocaine (Count 1 of the indictment) and for maintaining a residence for the wrongful manufacture, distribution or use of a controlled substance (Count 5 of the indictment). We affirm in part and remand.

(1) Norwood first asserts that the district court erred when it denied him safety valve relief on the basis that he possessed a firearm in connection with his sale of crack cocaine offense, without making the necessary findings. We agree. For safety valve purposes, the offense includes both “ ‘the offense of conviction and all relevant conduct.’” United States v. Fernandez, 526 F.3d 1247, 1252 (9th Cir.2008); (quoting United States v. Miller, 151 F.3d 957, 960 (9th Cir.1998)). Here the district court expressly found that Norwood possessed a firearm in connection with Count 5, the drug residence offense, but that offense is not one that carries a mandatory minimum sentence, so safety valve analysis does not apply to it. See United States v. Gamboa-Cardenas, 508 F.3d 491, 496, 498 (9th Cir.2007). The district court did not expressly hold that the firearm was possessed in connection with Count 1, the sale…