Marcus Mello was charged with distributing fentanyl-laced pills, possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and failing to appear for trial. The underlying drug conduct involved selling purported oxycodone pills containing fentanyl to a customer, A.K., who subsequently died from acute toxicity. Mello continued to sell drugs to a confidential informant after learning of the death. He was arrested with a loaded handgun and thousands of pills. The district court calculated a sentencing range of 228 to 270 months under the Guidelines but varied downward to 181 months, considering Mello's history of abuse and mental health issues. Mello appealed, arguing the drug quantity was inflated, his criminal history was overstated, and the sentence was procedurally and substantively unreasonable.
The First Circuit addressed Mello's procedural challenges in detail. First, regarding drug quantity, the court applied the 'preponderance of the evidence' standard and found the district court's reliance on WhatsApp messages, FedEx receipts, and pill counts reliable. The court reasoned that in the absence of direct evidence for every pill, a 'reasonable approximation' is permissible, and the district court did not err in inferring that the untested pills contained fentanyl based on the tested samples and the defendants' own communications. Second, the court rejected Mello's claim that his juvenile adjudications were constitutionally infirm for lacking a jury trial, noting that juveniles have no constitutional right to a jury trial. Third, the court affirmed the obstruction of justice enhancement and the denial of an acceptance of responsibility credit. It explained that while Mello pleaded guilty, his failure to appear and subsequent evasion of arrest constituted willful obstruction, and the circumstances were not 'extraordinary' enough to warrant both an enhancement and a credit. Finally, regarding departures, the court found the district court acted within its discretion in denying a departure based on age or criminal history, as Mello's age did not distinguish the case from typical cases and his history indicated a likelihood of recidivism. On substantive reasonableness, the court held that the sentence was defensible because the district court explicitly weighed Mello's mitigating factors against the severity of the offenses, including the death of a customer and the large volume of drugs.
The decision affirms the district court's sentence of 181 months, reinforcing the First Circuit's deference to district courts in calculating drug quantities based on circumstantial evidence like digital communications. It clarifies that a guilty plea does not automatically entitle a defendant to an acceptance of responsibility credit if they have obstructed justice, and that juvenile adjudications without jury trials remain valid for criminal history scoring. The ruling leaves open the question of whether similar drug quantity calculations would hold in cases with more conflicting testimony, but establishes that untested pills can be included if a reasonable inference supports their composition.
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