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U.S. v. Rodriguez

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Argued: January 11, 2001

Appeal from a conviction after a guilty plea in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Christopher F. Droney, Judge), to one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics. Appellant contends that his guilty plea should be vacated as not fully informed because the district court’s description of the government’s evidentiary burden regarding the charges against him was erroneous under the Supreme Court’s subsequent Apprendi decision. We affirm because the facts do not warrant reversal on plain error review.

Donald Mims appeals from his conviction after a plea of guilty before Judge Droney to one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics in violation of 21 U.S.C. �� 841(a)(1), 846. Appellant contends that his conviction should be vacated because, when he entered his plea, he was not correctly informed about the law pertinent to the charges against him. In particular, he argues that, in light of the Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), the district court erred in telling him that the government had to prove his involvement with only a “detectable” quantity of heroin to obtain a conviction by a jury and expose him to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. We hold that, although the district court’s statement was inaccurate under Apprendi, the mistake was not such as to call for reversal on plain error review. We therefore affirm.

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