U.S. v. Weir

RONEY, Senior Circuit Judge: We hold that a conviction of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana is a ""controlled substance offense"" for purposes of career criminal sentence enhancement under section 4B1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. This decision conflicts with a decision of the D.C.Circuit, upon which the district court relied in finding that defendant-appellee was not a career offender for enhancement purposes. United States v. Price 301 U.S. App. D.C. 97, 990 F.2d 1367 (D.C.Cir.1993). It puts us in accord, however, with most of the circuits that have decided the issue since the imposition of defendant-appellee's sentence. United States v. Piper, 35 F.3d 611, 616-17 (1st Cir.1994), cert. denied, U.S., 115 S. Ct. 1118, 130 L. Ed. 2d 1082 (1995) (rejecting Price); United States v. Hightower, 25 F.3d 182, 186-87 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, U.S., 115 S. Ct. 370, 130 L. Ed. 2d 322 (1994) (same); United States v. Kennedy, 32 F.3d 876, 888 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, U.S., 115 S. Ct. 939, 130 L. Ed. 2d 883 (1994) (same); United States v. Damerville, 27 F.3d 254, 256-57 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, U.S., 115 S. Ct. 445, 130 L. Ed. 2d 355 (1994) (same); United States v. Baker, 16 F.3d 854, 857 (8th Cir.1994) (same); Dyer v. United States, 23 F.3d 1421, 1424 n. 2 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, U.S., 115 S. Ct. 136, 130 L. Ed. 2d 78 (1994) (same); United States v. Heim, 15 F.3d 830, 831-32 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, U.S., 115 S. Ct. 55, 130 L. Ed. 2d 14 (1994) (same); United States v. Allen, 24 F.3d 1180, 1186 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, U.S., 115 S. Ct. 493, 130 L. Ed. 2d 404 (1994) (same).