Hammock

MEMORANDUM ***

William Roy Hammock pled guilty to one count of being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922 (g)(3), 924(a)(2). He was sentenced to a prison term of 46 months by the district court, at the low end of the applicable Sentencing Guidelines range. The district court based its sentence in part on a four-level upward adjustment under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(6) (previously codified at U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(5) (2005)) for possessing a firearm in connection with another felony offense. Hammock now appeals this upward adjustment. We affirm the district court’s sentence.

First, the government had to establish the facts underlying the four-level upward adjustment only by a preponderance of the evidence. None of the six factors outlined in United States v. Jordan, 256 F.3d 922, 928 (9th Cir.2001), supported use of the more stringent clear and convincing evidence standard. In particular, the challenged enhancement was “less than or equal to four” levels, id. at 928 , did not cause Hammock’s sentence to exceed the statutory maximum and did not more than double the sentence range Hammock faced under the Guidelines.…