No. 21-1696 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Lavelle Harris

Defendant - Appellant ___________________________

No. 21-2353 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Lamar Harris

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Eastern ____________

Submitted: February 14, 2022 Filed: June 10, 2022 [Published] ____________ Before SMITH, Chief Judge, BENTON and KELLY, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM.

Co-Defendants Lavelle Harris and Lamar Harris (Lavelle and Lamar, respectively) each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance. On appeal, both claim the district court 1 erred at their respective sentencings. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

I. Lavelle Harris

A. Background

Lavelle pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute at least 50 grams of methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(A). The Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) assessed a base offense level of 38, with a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, for a total offense level of 35. The PSR also recommended that Lavelle qualified for an enhancement as a career offender pursuant to United States Sentencing Guidelines § 4B1.1(a) based on his two prior Iowa convictions for delivery of a controlled substance. With a total offense level of 35 2 and a criminal history category of VI, the advisory Guidelines range was 292 to 365 months of imprisonment.

Lavelle disputed the quantity and type of methamphetamine attributed to him in the calculation of his base offense level. He argued that he should only be held

1 The Honorable John A. Jarvey, then Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, now retired. 2 In the PSR, the offense level calculated pursuant to § 2D1.1 based on drug quantity was higher than the offense level calculated pursuant to § 4B1.1, the career offender provision.

-2- responsible for the 242.8 grams of methamphetamine he sold to a confidential informant during a controlled buy and that the government had not shown that the methamphetamine he was selling was “ice.” 3 He also objected to his classification as a career offender.

At sentencing, the government presented testimony from one of its investigators, as well as grand jury transcripts from two cooperating witnesses and documents related to Lavelle’s two prior controlled substance convictions. The investigator testified that Lavelle told him during an interview that he distributed “1 to 2 pounds” of “ice” methamphetamine to an individual on multiple occasions. In the grand jury testimony, one of the witnesses testified to obtaining approximately four pounds of ice methamphetamine from Lavelle each week over a period of several months.

The district court concluded that “the probation office appropriately began with a base offense level of 38.” The court found the grand jury testimony “was sufficiently corroborated, not only through other evidence but through the statements of the defendant.” It further noted that the methamphetamine that was tested during the investigation was ice, and that the “drug dealers and users” involved in the case, who “have a remarkable ability to know the difference between ice and methamphetamine mixtures,” referred to the methamphetamine being distributed as “ice.” Noting that “it only takes 4.5 kilos of ice to get to a level 38,” the district court fo