Sentencing for a youthful offender who pleaded guilty to possessing approximately 609 grams of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking, possessing a loaded prohibited firearm, and breaching three weapons prohibition orders.
The court treated denunciation and deterrence as paramount, finding the offender to be at the high end of a mid-level fentanyl trafficking hierarchy and emphasizing the dangerous combination of large quantities of lethal drugs and a loaded handgun.
After imposing consecutive sentences totalling 14.5 years, the court reduced the sentence to 12 years under the totality principle, then further mitigated the sentence by six months for harsh pre-sentence detention conditions.
After Summers credit for 428 days of pre-sentence custody, the net sentence was 117 months in a federal penitentiary, together with lifetime weapons prohibition, DNA, and forfeiture orders.
