Vague or Speculative Claims Insufficient to Warrant Duress Instructions in Drug Case

US v. Beckstrom, No. 10-4108 (UT), 7/28/11 - District court’s refusal to permit duress defense to possession with intent to distribute fifty grams or more of meth affirmed, despite defendant’s claim that he would be killed by unnamed persons with connections to Mexican drug cartels if he did not go along, because defendant had ample opportunity to notify law enforcement authorities of his situation. Vague or speculative claim that notifying the cops would be unavailing or ineffective won’t cut it.

Plus, mandatory sentence of life imprisonment was properly imposed because defendant’s two prior drug-related convictions arose from “separate criminal episodes.” One was a state conviction for possession of dangerous drugs for sale, and the other was a federal continuing criminal enterprise conviction based in part on the state conviction. Since defendant could have ceased his drug-related activity after being arrested in the state case, but chose not to, the CCE conviction, which requires at least three predicate offenses, was sufficiently distinct from the state case to warrant treating it as a separate episode.