United States v. Roger Plata, Jr.

57 F.3d 1078 NOTICE: Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3 provides that dispositions other than opinions or orders designated for publication are not precedential and should not be cited except when relevant under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Roger PLATA, Jr., Defendant-Appellant. No. 94-50267. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Submitted June 5, 1995. * Decided June 9, 1995. Before: PREGERSON, POOLE, and D.W. NELSON, Circuit Judges. 1 MEMORANDUM ** OVERVIEW 2 Appellant Roger Plata, Jr. was convicted under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841 (a)(1) for manufacturing marijuana and was sentenced to 135 months plus five years of supervised release. Plata appeals his sentence, claiming: (1) the government violated his right to due process by destroying the seized marijuana, thereby leaving him no comparable method to determine the number of plants at sentencing; (2) the application of the Sentencing Guideline drug ratio that treats each marijuana plant as equal to one kilogram of marijuana violated his right to due process because it creates a disparity in sentencing between growers and possessors; and (3) the…