United States v. Howard Inafuku, AKA Howie

Howard Inafuku appeals from the sentence which was imposed following his plea of guilty to multiple crimes involving methamphetamine, as well as failure to file income tax returns. The principal issue on appeal concerns imposition of the minimum ten-year sentence required pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 841 (b)(1). The sentence was imposed because the amount of methamphetamine mixture involved in the relevant conspiracy exceeded 1,000 grams. The statute became effective November 18, 1988. The conspiracy for which Inafuku received the mandatory minimum sentence began before that date and ended after that date. Inafuku contends that the district court violated the ex post facto clause of the Constitution by including the methamphetamine involved in the conspiracy prior to November 18, 1988 in calculating the quantity involved in the conspiracy.

At sentencing, the parties stipulated that the total amount of methamphetamine mixture involved in the conspiracy exceeded 1,000 grams, but that at most only 311 grams were involved after November 18, 1988. The district court, over Inafuku’s objection, aggregated the amounts of methamphetamine involved both before and after the effective date of the…