Alvarez

MEMORANDUM **

Ruffy Alvarez was convicted by a jury for conspiracy to distribute over five hundred grams of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 and sentenced to seventy months in prison, the lowest sentence in the applicable sentencing range. He argues that he played a minor role in the offense and accepted responsibility for his crime, and that the district court therefore erred in not adjusting his sentence downward. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

The Sentencing Guidelines require that a defendant be “less culpable than most other participants” to receive a downward adjustment for playing a minor role. USSG § 3B1.2 cmt.4. A district court’s determination that a defendant does not qualify for minor participant status is highly fact-dependent, and we overturn such a finding only if it is clearly erroneous. United States v. Ladum, 141 F.3d 1328, 1348 (9th Cir.1998); see also United States v. Howard, 894 F.2d 1085, 1088 (9th Cir. 1990) (holding that a defendant’s status as a minor participant is a factual, not legal, conclusion). The defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he was substantially less culpable than the…