U.S. v. Miele

In this appeal under the Sentencing Guidelines, the defendant Anthony Miele challenges the district courts attribution of drug quantity, which was the basis under the Guidelines for determining the length of his sentence. In view of the numerous inconsistencies in the record, the fact that the source of most of the critical evidence was an addict-informant with an impaired memory, and the lack of any findings by the district court other than a single conclusory finding as to drug quantity, we find that the record as it now stands does not meet the Guidelines "sufficient indicia of reliability" standard, see U.S.S.G. § 6A1.3. We will therefore vacate Mieles sentence and remand for further proceedings (development of the record, more detailed fact finding, et alia).