United States v. Paulette

Paulette helped found an East St. Louis, Illinois street gang during the late 1980s. By 2012 he and the gang were trafficking large amounts of drugs. Paulette led the gang and managed its drug trade, even controlling the sale of illegal drugs in nearby Washington Park, with many people working for him. Paulette sold 105 grams of cocaine to an informant during two controlled buys in 2014. Two months later, authorities were waiting when Paulette and eight travel companions got off a train in St. Louis, returning from a supply run to Texas. Seven of them were carrying a total of 2.4 kilograms of cocaine in packages concealed under their clothing. Paulette eventually pled guilty to eight counts related to drug trafficking and was sentenced to a total of 300 months in prison. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the sentence, rejecting Paulette’s arguments about the scope of the conspiracy and that the district court, in calculating his imprisonment range under the Sentencing Guidelines, wrongly counted certain years of drug dealing as relevant conduct under U.S.S.G. 1B1.3. Paulette admitted, through his plea agreement, that the conspiracy had “involved” at least five kilograms of cocaine and at least 50 grams of actual methamphetamine. View "United States v. Paulette" on Justia Law