United States v. Caldwell
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
589 F.3d 1323 (2009)
Michael Caldwell (defendant) bought small amounts of marijuana from friend David Anderson on a few occasions early in their friendship, but that direct dealing relationship ended; a year later, when Anderson sought a new marijuana supplier, Caldwell facilitated an introduction to his own supplier, Samuel Herrera, receiving no compensation and playing no further role in Anderson's subsequent purchases from Herrera. The government charged Caldwell with conspiring to distribute over 100 kilograms of marijuana, a threshold reachable only by combining Herrera's separate sales to both Caldwell and Anderson as one conspiracy; Caldwell admitted conspiring with Herrera but disputed any conspiracy with Anderson, and a jury convicted him.
Whether two drug dealers who share a common supplier, without any direct interdependence or ongoing business relationship between themselves, constitute a single tripartite conspiracy for purposes of aggregating drug quantities.