Swallowing drug evidence and wiping up vomit to conceal cocaine contained within it is obstruction of justice for sentencing purposes

SENTENCING United States v. Bedford, No. 05-1108, ___ F.3d ___ (10th Cir. May 8, 2006)(Colorado). Appeal of sentence for possession of cocaine base (crack cocaine) after prior drug felony conviction in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 844. HELD: (1) Actually swallowing evidence (i.e., cocaine base) is not same as attempting to swallow it. Therefore, where defendant actually swallowed cocaine base in order to hide it from police, U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1 cmt. n.4(d)’s exception to obstruction of justice sentencing enhancement for attempting to swallow evidence does not apply. (2) Wiping up vomit containing cocaine base at police station in order to conceal cocaine evidence constitutes willful obstruction of justice sufficient to warrant sentence enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 3C1.1. Read the opinion here.