Juan Arocho-Gonzales

Federal sentence: 20 years mandatory minimum
Offense: Possession with intent to distribute in excess of 5 kilograms of cocaine; Continuing criminal enterprise (CCE)
Priors: None 
Year  of sentencing: 1995 
Year of birth: 1973
Projected release date: June 14, 2012

Local authorities discovered that Juan, his brother, and nine others were selling cocaine from their housing project in Puerto Rico.  Through testimony from a criminal informant, videotape surveillance, controlled buys, and drugs seized through searches, the police determined that the eleven codefendants were responsible for a total of five kilograms of cocaine.  Juan was charged with leading a drug trafficking organization and continuing criminal enterprise (CCE).  Juan accepted responsibility for all of the drug charges, but objected to his portrayal as a leader in the conspiracy. Juan was arrested with only 12.4 gram of cocaine and went to trial to prove that all of the defendants in the case participated equally in selling small quantities of cocaine, but his argument was unsuccessful and he was convicted as a leader.

Juan grew up with his six brothers and sisters in a public housing project in Puerto Rico. His parents separated when he was eight after years of domestic violence. Juan’s mother, overwhelmed by the pressures of raising seven children in extreme poverty, provided little supervision or guidance. When Juan was in the fifth grade, he dropped out of school and spent most of his time smoking marijuana with his brothers. By the time Juan was twelve, his mother had left the family and moved in with a boyfriend. Soon after, Juan developed a $20-per-day heroin and cocaine habit.

What sentence do you think Juan should have received?

At sentencing, Judge Hector M. Laffitte of the District of Puerto Rico expressed remorse at the “tragedy” of condemning Juan to 20-years in prison at such a young age:

“[It] is the youth of this defendant when viewed in the light of the severe, stiff provisions of the sentencing guidelines and the statute that makes this case tough and difficult and sad. [One] has to pass sentence in this case with a heavy heart…but that’s what the law says, and that’s what I have to do.”

Apart from Juan’s brother, who is serving a 20-year sentence, Juan’s other codefendants received sentences ranging from one to two-and-a-half years.