Conspiracy Conviction Properly Used to Enhance Drug Sentence

Conspiracy convictions can be used to enhance a defendant’s sentence as a career offender under the US Sentencing Guidelines, the en banc Fifth Circuit said.

Under the guidelines, people who commit multiple drug crimes may receive an enhanced sentence, but the text of the applicable guideline doesn’t define what a “controlled substance offense” is, the opinion by Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan said. The guidelines’ commentary says that a controlled substance offense includes conspiracies, Duncan said.

Andres Vargas argued that conspiracies don’t qualify as controlled substances offenses because the guideline definition excludes crimes inchoate crimes. The commentary’s inclusion of conspiracies conflicts ...