Littlesun

FACTS

Horace Littlesun, his wife, and numerous others conspired to sell and sold methamphetamine on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. Their inventory came from several out-of-state individuals the reservation residents called “the Mexicans.”

Littlesun pled guilty to selling 3.7 grams of methamphet- amine to an undercover informant,1 but the sentencing judge held him accountable for 32.5 grams. The approximate one ounce difference generated a guideline adjustment that length- ened Littlesun’s sentence. Littlesun’s wife had told a Bureau of Indian Affairs agent that her husband had sold the addi- tional ounce, but she did not testify at Littlesun’s sentencing hearing. The BIA agent who interviewed her testified to what she had told him. The sentencing judge believed the agent and imposed the quantity adjustment accordingly. Littlesun was also denied a downward adjustment for minor or minimal role in the conspiracy, partly on the basis of what his wife had told the agent.

The sentencing judge considered the defense’s confronta- 1 Conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of the Northern Cheyenne federal housing project in violation of 21 U.S.C.…