United States v. Christopher Delong

MEMORANDUM

Christopher DeLong appeals from the sentence he received after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 . De-Long was sentenced to the lowest end of the Sentencing Guidelines range. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

DeLong’s guilty plea included a stipulated factual basis and an appeal-waiver provision that allowed him to appeal a sentence over 120 months. DeLong argues that the district court erred by denying him a two-level reduction under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.2 for playing a minor role in the offense; adding a criminal history point based on his prior misdemeanor conviction for tampering with utility services; and failing to reduce the criminal history category from V to IV.

The first argument fails because the record supports treating DeLong as comparable to his two codefendants, who received no role adjustment. The district court considered and rejected DeLong’s argument that he was substantially less culpable than his codefendants because he did not attend three of the four meetings to sell methamphetamine to the confidential informant. The district court noted that a mitigating role…