United States v. Elizabeth Kuc ( 2021 )

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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 20-10349
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 2:18-cr-00190-SPC-MRM-4
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
ELIZABETH KUC,
a.k.a. Auntie,
a.k.a. Beth,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(February 25, 2021)
Before JILL PRYOR, BRANCH and LUCK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
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After a jury convicted defendant Elizabeth Kuc of conspiring to distribute
and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl and
distributing fentanyl and crack cocaine, the district court sentenced her to 360
months’ imprisonment. At the sentencing hearing, the district court found that Kuc
was responsible for 17.44 kilograms of crack cocaine, 10.9 kilograms of heroin,
and 0.5 grams of fentanyl, and used these drug quantities to set Kuc’s offense level
for purposes of the Sentencing Guidelines. On appeal, Kuc challenges the district
court’s drug-quantity finding. Because we cannot say that the district court clearly
erred in making the drug-quantity determination, we affirm.
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Kuc was charged in an indictment with conspiring to distribute and possess
with intent to distribute 28 grams or more of crack cocaine, 100 grams or more of
heroin, and 40 grams or more of fentanyl. The government alleged that Kuc
conspired with nine named co-defendants as well as other unnamed persons. The
government also charged Kuc with two substantive counts of distributing
controlled substances: fentanyl and crack cocaine. Kuc pled not guilty and
proceeded to trial.
A. Trial Proceedings
At trial, the government introduced evidence showing that Kuc participated
in a drug organization headed by Tony Wilson, Jr., which operated in the Suncoast
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Estates area of North Fort Myers, Florida. The organization sold crack cocaine,
heroin, and fentanyl out of trap houses, residences used for drug distribution. The
organization had multiple dealers working out of the trap houses in the Suncoast
Estates area. Wilson would have runners take the controlled substances to the
dealers working in the trap houses and bring him the cash from the sale of the
substances out of the trap houses.
The organization’s main hub for distribution was a trap house called the
“Big House,” which was owned by Monique Moore, another member of the
conspiracy. When law enforcement officers surveilled the Big House, they saw
people coming in and out of the house all day and night and staying only for a
short time. On one occasion, officers raided the Big House and seized a significant
amount of crack cocaine—more than 30 “cookies” of crack cocaine1 with a total
street value of between $40,000 and $50,000. On that day, officers also seized a
mixture of heroin and fentanyl weighing 23.8 grams.2 Just one day after this raid,
the organization resumed drug-dealing operations at the Big House.
At trial, the government introduced evidence that Kuc participated in the
organization’s drug distribution scheme in several ways. She sold drugs herself
1
A cookie of crack cocaine generally weighs between eight and nine grams. The
evidence at trial showed that a cookie of crack cocaine would be broken into smaller pieces of
crack cocaine that drug dealers typically sold for approximately $20 each.
2
The evidence at trial showed that drug dealers typically sold heroin and fentanyl in
packages weighing 0.1 grams for about $20 per bag.
3
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and helped others to buy drugs from Wilson, allowed Wilson to use her house to
“cook” crack cocaine cookies, and reported to Wilson about the goings on at the
Big House.
First, the government introduced evidence showing that Kuc participated in
the organization by selling drugs and helping others in the other organization sell
drugs. A witness testified that Kuc regularly sold crack cocaine and heroin,
supplied by Wilson, from her bedroom. The government also introduced into
evidence a recorded phone call in which Kuc discussed selling drugs for Wilson.
In the call, Kuc mentioned that Wilson had recently gone on vacation and left her
$9,000 worth of heroin to sell while he was out of town, saying that Wilson
“brought everything here for everybody to come get it.” Doc. 423-21 at 1. 3 Kuc
sold all $9,000-worth of heroin and gave the proceeds to Wilson when he returned.
The government also introduced evidence of three instances where Kuc
either sold drugs with her niece or assisted her niece in purchasing drugs from
Wilson. At the time, Kuc’s niece was, unbeknownst to Kuc, working as a
confidential informant for the government and recording each transaction.
In the first transaction, Kuc sold an undercover officer $100 worth of
fentanyl. Kuc’s niece arranged for Kuc to sell the undercover officer heroin.
Before selling the drugs, Kuc asked the undercover officer to snort some of the
3
“Doc.” numbers refer to the district court’s docket entries.
4
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substance in front of her—a measure that, according to the evidence at trial, drug
dealers sometimes use to ensure that a potential customer is not a law-enforcement
officer or a confidential informant. When the officer demurred, Kuc directed her
niece to sell the drugs, apparently in an attempt to avoid criminal liability. Kuc
handed six small bags to her niece who, in turn, handed them to the undercover
officer. The undercover officer handed his money to the niece, who then handed it
over to Kuc. Although the undercover officer thought he was purchasing $100 of
heroin, the substance was, in reality, fentanyl.4
In the second transaction, Kuc arranged for her niece to purchase an eight-
ball (approximately four to five grams) of heroin from Wilson. Kuc’s niece
approached Kuc about buying heroin from Wilson, and Kuc agreed to arrange the
transaction in exchange for $100. After arranging the purchase, Kuc went with her
niece to meet Wilson. Wilson sold Kuc’s niece 3.5238 grams of a fentanyl
mixture.
In the third transaction, Kuc’s niece wanted to buy a cookie of crack cocaine
and an eight ball of heroin from Wilson. Kuc agreed to help her niece set up the
transaction in exchange for $100. Wilson directed Kuc to go to a trap house to
pick up the drugs. When Kuc and her niece arrived at the trap house, Kuc made
4
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is stronger than heroin. The evidence at trial
reflected that it is common for a person to buy what she thought was heroin and end up with
fentanyl (or vice versa).
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her niece wait outside, saying that Wilson told Kuc to go in by herself and “[I]
listen to what I’m told.” Doc. 423-15 at 2. Kuc then purchased 8.48 grams of
crack cocaine from a dealer who worked for Wilson. But the dealer did not have
the heroin and directed Kuc to go to the Big House to pick it up. When Kuc and
her niece arrived at the Big House, Kuc could not purchase heroin there, either.
Kuc was angry that Wilson had not come through with any heroin. She
ranted to her niece:
This is fucking bullshit. You want to see the text message that I wrote
[Wilson]? It ain’t fucking pretty. I’m gonna text him again. “You
know what, [Wilson]? I don’t get out of bed for fucking free. This is
fucking bullshit that you had me go get these people money, have
everything set up for today on my part. I go over to your place with
over a thousand fucking dollars and I can’t buy what I need to buy? It’s
fucking bullshit.”
Doc. 423-17 at 2. She continued on saying, “[I] don’t get up and move around for
fucking two bags, three bags, 45 fucking dollars. I don’t even get out of my bed. I
could have stayed in my bed and made more than that.” Id.
The second way that Kuc assisted the organization was by allowing Wilson
and his brother to use her home to cook significant amounts of crack cocaine. A
witness testified that “[e]very couple days” Wilson and his brother came to Kuc’s
house to cook between four and eight crack cocaine cookies. Doc. 658 at 127.
And there was also evidence that Kuc helped Wilson by cooking crack cocaine
herself. In a recorded call, Kuc discussed picking up a “quarter piece” from
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Wilson so that she could “finish making the candy,” which was a reference to
cooking crack cocaine. 5 Doc. 423-21 at 4.
The third way that Kuc participated in the drug organization was by keeping
Wilson informed about what was happening at the Big House. For a time, Kuc
lived next door to the Big House, and she reported to Wilson about the goings-on
there. During this time, law enforcement officers conducted a search at the Big
House. At the time of search, Moore, who owned the Big House, was in jail.
Shortly after the search, Moore called Wilson from the jail, and they added Kuc to
their call. Kuc told them that police officers had raided the Big House and
discussed which neighbors might have reported them to police. During the call,
Wilson told Kuc that she was his “eyes and ears,” meaning he depended on her,
among others, to watch and report to him about what was happening at the Big
House. Doc. 423-27 at 8.
The government also introduced evidence at trial about the volume of drugs
that the conspiracy was selling each day. A member of the conspiracy estimated
that each day the organization sold four cookies of crack cocaine, weighing a total
of approximately 32 grams, and 100 to 150 bags of heroin, weighing a total of 10
to 15 grams.
5
According to trial evidence, the term “candy” was commonly used in Suncoast Estates
to refer to crack cocaine.
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Kuc testified in her own defense. She described herself as a “junkie” who
needed to use heroin and crack cocaine each day to avoid becoming “violently ill.”
Doc. 658 at 181–82. She denied agreeing to work with Wilson or anyone else to
distribute drugs, saying she only bought drugs for her personal use. When asked
about the three drug transactions where she helped her niece buy or sell drugs, she
said that her niece “coerced” her into participating. Id. at 215. She also denied
that she sold $9,000 worth of heroin for Wilson when he was out of town. She
maintained instead that while Wilson was out of town, he left $9,000 worth of
heroin in a safe in her room, but that she was visiting family at the time, did not
know about the heroin until Wilson’s brother retrieved it, and never sold any of it.
Kuc also denied that she allowed Wilson and his brother to cook crack
cocaine at her house. She admitted that Wilson and his brother cooked crack
cocaine there but said she was forced to allow them to use her house when they
threatened to harm her and her family physically. And when she was asked about
the phone call in which she discussed cooking “candy,” she said she was talking
about making rock candy or peppermints for children in her family, not discussing
cooking crack cocaine.
The jury found Kuc guilty on all three counts.
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B. Sentencing Proceedings
After the trial, a probation officer prepared a presentence investigation report
(“PSI”). The PSI detailed the operations of the drug conspiracy and reported that
Kuc participated in the conspiracy from at least April 7, 2016 through October 4,
2017. 6 According to the PSI, during this period, each day the conspiracy
distributed at least four eight-gram cookies of crack cocaine and 200 0.1-gram bags
of heroin and/or fentanyl. Because Kuc participated in the conspiracy for at least
545 days, the PSI held her accountable for 17.44 kilograms of crack cocaine, 10.9
kilograms of heroin, and 0.5 grams of fentanyl.
Given these drug quantities, the PSI reported that Kuc had a base offense
level of 36. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(2). The PSI then applied a two-level
enhancement because Kuc had maintained a premises for the purpose of
manufacturing or distributing a controlled substance and another two-level
enhancement because she had obstructed justice by giving false testimony at trial.
See id. §§ 2D1.1(b)(12), 3C1.1. With a total offense level of 40 and a criminal
history category of V, the PSI calculated Kuc’s guidelines range as 360 months’ to
life imprisonment. Because the statutory maximum for Kuc’s offenses was 80
6
These dates were derived from two facts. Kuc’s phone call with Wilson and Moore
where Wilson described Kuc as his eyes and ears occurred on April 7, 2016. And the final
transaction where Kuc helped her niece purchase crack cocaine from Wilson occurred on
October 4, 2017.
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years’ imprisonment, 7 the PSI reduced her guidelines range to 360 to 960 months.
See id. § 5G1.2(b).
Kuc objected to the PSI’s drug-quantity determination, saying “she should
not be held accountable for the total amount of drugs manufactured and distributed
by others.” Doc. 509 at 42. For the court to hold Kuc responsible for the acts of
others, it had to make individualized findings concerning the scope of criminal
activity she agreed to jointly undertake with others. And, pointing to her trial
testimony, Kuc argued that she had not jointly undertaken any criminal activity.
And even if she agreed to jointly undertake criminal activity, Kuc urged, the PSI’s
drug-quantity determination was unsupported.
At the sentencing hearing, the district court addressed Kuc’s objection. The
court acknowledged that to hold Kuc responsible for a drug quantity that was based
on jointly undertaken activity, it had to make an individualized finding concerning
the scope of her jointly undertaken criminal activity and determine the “quantity of
drugs reasonably foreseeable in connection with her level of participation.” Doc.
660 at 22. Based on the evidence from trial, the district court found that Kuc had
7
Because the jury determined that the conspiracy involved at least 28 grams of crack
cocaine, 100 grams of heroin, and 40 grams of fentanyl, the statutory maximum for the
conspiracy count was 40 years. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(i), (iii), (vi) (statutory maximum
of 40 years for an offense involving 28 grams or more of crack cocaine, 100 grams or more of
heroin, or 40 grams or more of fentanyl). The statutory maximum for each distribution count
was 20 years. See id. § 841(b)(1)(C).
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agreed to undertake criminal activity with others and that the scope of the jointly
undertaken criminal activity included the quantity of drugs the organization sold
while she was participating in the criminal activity. To support its conclusion, the
court pointed to evidence that Kuc had sold drugs and facilitated drug transactions,
allowed Wilson and his brother to cook crack cocaine at her home, and acted as
Wilson’s eyes and ears in keeping him informed about what was happening at the
Big House. The court acknowledged Kuc’s trial testimony that she had not
voluntarily participated in the organization. But the court found her testimony was
not credible because it conflicted with other witnesses’ testimony and the many
recorded conversations that were entered into evidence.
The court found that the scope of the jointly undertaken criminal activity
was the distribution of four cookies of crack cocaine (for a total of 32 grams) and
200 bags of heroin (for a total of 20 grams) each day. Because Kuc participated in
the conspiracy for 545 days, the court determined that she was responsible for a
total of 17.44 kilograms of heroin and 10.9 kilograms of heroin as well as 0.5
grams of fentanyl. The court found that it was “reasonably foreseeable” to Kuc
that the jointly undertaken criminal activity included this quantity of drugs based
on her “level of participation in this drug conspiracy.” Id. at 25.
Using these drug quantities, the district court concluded that Kuc’s total
offense level was 40 and that with her criminal history category of V, her
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guidelines range was 360 to 960 months’ imprisonment. The court sentenced Kuc
to 360 months. This is her appeal.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review for clear error a district court’s determination of the drug
quantity attributable to a defendant. United States v. Almedina, 686 F.3d 1312,
1315 (11th Cir. 2012). For a finding to be clearly erroneous, we “must be left with
a definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.” Id. (internal
quotation marks omitted). When “a fact pattern gives rise to two reasonable and
different constructions, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly
erroneous.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
III. LEGAL ANALYSIS
Under the Sentencing Guidelines, to calculate Kuc’s base offense level, the
district court had to determine the quantity of drugs properly attributable to her.
U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(a)(5); see United States v. Frazier, 89 F.3d 1501, 1506 (11th Cir.
1996). A district court’s findings of fact as to drug quantity “may be based on
evidence heard during trial, facts admitted by a defendant’s plea of guilty,
undisputed statements in the presentence report, or evidence presented at the
sentencing hearing.” United States v. Wilson, 884 F.2d 1355, 1356 (11th Cir.
1989). The government bears the burden of establishing the drug quantity by a
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preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Reeves, 742 F.3d 487, 506 (11th
Cir. 2014).
Under the Guidelines, a defendant is held accountable for her relevant
conduct. See U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3. In drug conspiracy cases, relevant conduct
includes drug quantities with which the defendant “was directly involved” and also
“all quantities of contraband that were involved in transactions carried out by other
participants, if those transactions were within the scope of, and in furtherance of,
the jointly undertaken criminal activity and were reasonably foreseeable in
connection with that criminal activity.” Id. § 1B1.3, cmt. n.3.; United States v.
Ismond, 993 F.2d 1498, 1499 (11th Cir. 1993).
To hold a defendant responsible for the conduct of others, the district court
must make particularized findings about: (1) the scope of the criminal activity that
the defendant agreed to jointly undertake, and then (2) whether the conduct of
others was in furtherance of, and reasonably foreseeable in connection with, the
criminal activity jointly undertaken by the defendant. U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3(a)(1)(B).;
see United States v. Hunter, 323 F.3d 1314, 1319–20 (11th Cir. 2003). In
determining the scope of the criminal activity, the district court may consider any
“explicit agreement or implicit agreement fairly inferred from the conduct of the
defendant and others.” U.S.S.G. § 1B1.3, cmt. n.3. But a defendant’s mere
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awareness of a larger criminal undertaking is insufficient to show that she agreed
to participate in the larger criminal undertaking. See Hunter, 323 F.3d at 1320–21.
When the quantity of drugs seized does not reflect the scale of the offense,
the district court must approximate the quantity of drugs attributable to the
defendant. Almedina, 686 F.3d at 1315–16; see U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, cmt. n.5. A
“court may rely on evidence demonstrating the average frequency and amount of
the defendant’s drug sales over a given period of time.” Almedina, 686 F.3d at
1316.
In this case, the district court found that the relevant conduct included not
only the controlled substances that Kuc herself sold but also quantities of
controlled substances that were sold by others in the conspiracy. On appeal, Kuc
argues that the district court erred in making its drug-quantity finding because (1) it
failed to make the required individualized determinations to hold her responsible
for jointly undertaken criminal activity, and (2) the evidence does not support the
district court’s finding about the quantity of drugs that were part of any jointly
undertaken criminal activity. We are not persuaded by either argument.8
8
The government urges us to find that Kuc abandoned her challenge to the district
court’s drug-quantity determination because Kuc failed to develop adequately her argument in
her appellate brief. But because Kuc’s appellate brief “directly challenge[d]” the district court’s
drug-quantity determination, she satisfied the standard for invoking appellate review. Hi-Tech
Pharms., Inc. v. HBS Int’l Corp., 910 F.3d 1186, 1194 (11th Cir. 2018).
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We begin with Kuc’s argument that the district court erred by “fail[ing] to
make individualized findings concerning [her] jointly undertaken criminal activity
as required by USSG § 1B1.3(a).” Appellant’s Br. at 19. The record directly
refutes her contention that the district court failed to make individualized findings.
The court found that the scope of the jointly undertaken criminal activity was the
distribution of 32 grams of crack cocaine and 20 grams of heroin each day for a
period of 545 days—the period of Kuc’s involvement in conspiracy—for a total of
17.44 kilograms of heroin and 10.9 kilograms of heroin as well as 0.5 grams of
fentanyl. And the court expressly found that based on Kuc’s “level of participation
in this drug conspiracy,” this quantity of drugs was “reasonably foreseeable” to
her. Doc. 660 at 25.
Kuc’s other argument is that the record does not support the district court’s
finding about the scope of her jointly undertaken criminal activity. Her primary
argument is that the district court clearly erred in holding her responsible for any
quantity based on jointly undertaken criminal activity because she “had no joint
criminal activity with the group other than buying its dope” and “never agreed to
work with the others to sell dope.” Appellant’s Br. at 15, 17. She also argues, in
the alternative, that even if there was some joint criminal activity, it was limited to
allowing Wilson and his brother to cook crack cocaine cookies in her house.
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The district court did not clearly err in finding that Kuc participated in a
jointly undertaken criminal activity. After all, the district court pointed to evidence
at trial showing that Kuc sold drugs and facilitated drug transactions for Wilson,
allowed Wilson to cook crack cocaine in her home, and served as Wilson’s eyes
and ears by watching the Big House for him.
Kuc argues that the district court instead should have concluded that she
never participated in jointly undertaken criminal activity based on her own
testimony that she participated in no such activity, did not sell drugs, and was
coerced into allowing Wilson and his brother to cook crack cocaine in her home.
Certainly, Kuc offered this testimony at trial. But the government offered evidence
at trial that contradicted her version of events. At sentencing, the district court
expressly found that Kuc’s testimony was not credible, which it was entitled to do.
See Wilson, 884 F.2d at 1356 (recognizing that a district court may make a factual
finding at sentencing based on evidence at trial).
Kuc’s alternative argument is that even if there was evidence that she jointly
undertook some criminal activity, her participation was limited to allowing Wilson
and others to cook crack cocaine in her house. And based on this limited jointly
undertaken activity, she says, the district court should have held her responsible for
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no more than 5.82 kilograms of crack cocaine.9 But the district court did not
clearly err in finding that the scope of Kuc’s jointly undertaken criminal activity
extended beyond Wilson’s cooking crack cocaine in her home. There was
testimony that Kuc regularly sold drugs out of her home. And when Wilson went
out of town, he left her to sell $9,000 worth of heroin for him. In addition, Kuc’s
recorded statements suggest that the jointly undertaken criminal activity included
her selling significant quantities of drugs. When Wilson failed to come through
with the eight-ball of heroin that Kuc had arranged for her niece to purchase, Kuc
ranted, “[I] don’t get up and move around for fucking two bags, three bags, 45
fucking dollars. I don’t even get out of my bed. I could have stayed in my bed and
made more than that.” Doc. 423-17 at 2. This statement supports an inference that
Kuc was regularly selling large quantities of drugs supplied by Wilson. Given all
this evidence, we cannot say that the district court clearly erred in finding that the
scope of Kuc’s jointly undertaken criminal activity extended beyond allowing
Wilson to cook crack cocaine in her home.
But even assuming, for the sake of argument, that Kuc is correct that the
district court should have held her responsible for no more than 5.82 kilograms of
crack cocaine, any error was harmless. Using this drug quantity, Kuc’s base
9
This number is based on an estimate that Wilson and his brother cooked 32 grams of
crack cocaine at Kuc’s house every third day for a 545-day period.
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offense level would have been 34. See U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(c)(3) (assigning base
offense level of 34 to an offense involving “at least 2.8 KG but less than 8.4 KG of
Cocaine Base”). And with enhancements for Kuc’s maintenance of a premises for
the purpose of manufacturing and distributing controlled substances and
obstructing justice, her total offense level would have been 38. Given Kuc’s
criminal history category of V, her guidelines range would have been 360 months’
to life imprisonment. See U.S.S.G. ch. 5, pt. A (Sentencing Table). Because the
statutory maximum in this case was 80 years, her guidelines range would have
been 360 to 960 months. As a result, even if the district court had limited the drug
quantity to 5.82 kilograms of crack cocaine, Kuc’s guidelines range would have
remained the same, making harmless any error the district court made using a drug
quantity greater than 5.82 kilograms of crack cocaine. See United States v. Alicea,
875 F.3d 606, 609 (11th Cir. 2017) (recognizing that error was harmless when
defendant’s guidelines range “would remain the same” without the error); United
States v. Mathis, 767 F.3d 1264, 1284 (11th Cir. 2014) (concluding that any error
in application of enhancement that increased the defendant’s total offense level
was harmless when the defendant’s “guidelines range was the same with or
without the enhancement”), abrogated on other grounds by Lockhart v. United
States, 136 S. Ct. 958, 961 (2016).
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IV. CONCLUSION
For the above reasons, we affirm Kuc’s sentence.
AFFIRMED.
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