United States v. Guillermo Cardenas-Juarez

On January 4, 2005, in the United States District Court for the District of Montana, Guillermo Cardenas-Juarez pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1). After .requesting briefing and continuing the sentencing hearing, the district court concluded that United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 , 125 S.Ct. 738 , 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), rendered the statutory safety valve of 18 U.S.C. § 3553 (f) advisory, and therefore it was “trumped” by the mandatory minimum set forth in 21 U.S.C. § 841 . The district court then sentenced Cardenas-Juarez to the mandatory minimum of sixty months in federal prison.

Cardenas-Juarez appeals his sentence, arguing that the district court should have applied the statutory safety valve to relieve him from the statutory minimum. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742 (a). We vacate the sentence and remand for resen-tencing.

I. BACKGROUND

On July 17, 2004, after being stopped by the Montana Highway Patrol for speeding on United States Highway 2 near Havre, Montana, Cardenas-Juarez was arrested for possession of cocaine. On October 26, 2004, a grand jury in the…