What happened
The Seventh Circuit left intact Malaia Turner's 324-month prison sentence for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine, ruling that an Illinois federal judge properly applied a two-level leadership enhancement and did not commit reversible error in adopting drug quantities used at sentencing.
The panel said the record supported treating Turner as an organizer or leader because she helped coordinate parts of the operation, including suppliers, transportation, mailing drugs and customer payment enforcement. Writing for the court, Judge Kirsch said, "There is ample evidence" to support the enhancement.
Turner had argued that Marcus Posey, not she, led the conspiracy. The court rejected that framing, explaining that more than one participant can qualify as a leader or organizer and that the record showed Turner and Marcus were at least equals in the operation, eventually splitting proceeds from methamphetamine sales.
The case stemmed from a jury conviction on a charge of conspiring to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine. According to the opinion, Turner and Marcus Posey bought methamphetamine from Turner's brother, later traveled to California to buy drugs for distribution in Illinois, used a courier and involved another participant in the scheme.
On the drug-quantity issue, the panel said some alleged errors would not have changed the guidelines range because Turner still would have been above the threshold for a base offense level of 38. The court also noted that the sentencing judge said he would have imposed the same sentence even if he had sustained Turner's objections.
The panel also said Turner waived other drug-quantity objections when counsel did not renew them at sentencing and told the district court that it had addressed the objections. Even setting waiver aside, the court said the district judge could pass over cursory and underdeveloped objections that were not pressed at the hearing.