United States v. Gerardo Serna-Gonzalez

ORDER

The Memorandum filed January 25, 2013, is withdrawn and the corrected Memorandum, to be filed concurrently with this order, is substituted in its place.

MEMORANDUM

Gerardo Serna-Gonzalez (“Serna”) pled guilty to four counts covering his transport of methamphetamine and cocaine into the United States. He now appeals his 188-month sentence on four grounds, none of which warrants relief.

1.The district court did not clearly err by denying the request for a minor role adjustment under U.S.S.G. § 3131.2(b). Serna argues that he was a mere courier whose involvement was limited to transporting drugs across the United States-Mexico border. But we have repeatedly recognized that a defendant “may be a courier without being either a minimal or a minor participant.” United States v. Rodriguez-Castro, 641 F.3d 1189, 1193 (9th Cir.2011) (internal quotation marks omitted), ce rt. denied, — U.S. -, 132 S.Ct. 1061 , 181 L.Ed.2d 778 (2012). Moreover, the district court properly relied on the purity and quantity of drugs to infer that Serna likely did not play a minor role. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, cmt. 9 (“[T]he fact that a defendant is in possession of unusually pure narcotics may indicate…