United States v. Eduardo Gallegos-Gonzalez

Eduardo Gallegos-Gonzalez appeals his sentence under the Sentencing Guidelines for his guilty plea conviction of distribution of phencyclidine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1). The district court had jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 3231 , and this Court has jurisdiction over Gallegos’ timely appeal pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742 . We affirm.

I

Gallegos was convicted of selling $200 worth of phencyclidine (PCP) in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1). Finding that Gallegos had two previous felony convictions, the district court sentenced him as a “career offender” under section 4B1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines. Accordingly, the court set Gallegos’ base offense level at 32 and his criminal history category at VI and sentenced him to 168 months in prison.

The district court relied on two 1989 convictions to establish Gallegos’ career offender status. Gallegos was arrested for selling PCP on September 12, 1989 and was eventually released on bail. He was later arrested for assault "with a deadly weapon, a charge stemming from an incident that occurred on September 25, 1989. He pled guilty to the drug and assault charges on December 11, 1989 and December 26, 1989, respectively.…