9th Cir.;
14-30210

The court of appeals vacated a judgment of sentence and remanded. The court held that the district court erred by calculating the defendant's sentence based on its own finding that the quantity of drugs involved in the defendant's crime was far in excess of the amount found by the jury in a special verdict.

Jesus Pimentel-Lopez was convicted at trial of two drug crimes, each of which was subject to differential punishment depending upon drug type and quantity. The jury expressly found by special verdict that the quantity of drugs attributable to Pimentel-Lopez was less than 50 grams. At sentencing, however, the district court found that the actual quantity was over four kilograms. The court sentenced Pimentel-Lopez to the statutory maximum sentence for a quantity less than 50 grams, a term substantially longer than would have resulted if the court had abided by the jury's quantity determination.