‘Doughboy’ Ringleader Wants Term Eased Federal Appeal Cites Disparate Sentencing In Cocaine Case
A federal appeals court is being asked to erase the lengthy prison sentence given to a primary figure in Spokane’s Operation Doughboy cocaine conspiracy.
The 14-year term handed to Clarence “Cip” Paulsen III is disproportionate to four- and eight-year sentences given to his co-defendants, argues attorney John Lundin of Seattle.
A federal prosecutor says Paulsen’s appeal doesn’t have merit.
Paulsen is the great-grandson of mining and real estate baron August Paulsen. Spokane’s landmark Paulsen Building is named after the family.
U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle “failed to assess and address the disparate treatment between Paulsen and co-defendants,” Lundin says in an appeal brief.
It was filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments are expected within three months.
If the appeals court overturns the sentence, Paulsen would be re-sentenced.
“The charging and sentencing decisions in this and related cases are so inconsistent that they defy logic, violate the uniformity goals of the Sentencing Reform Act and shock one’s conscience,” Lundin says in the appeal.
It lists these examples:
Co-defendant James Larsen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute between 50 and 150 kilograms of cocaine. His operation involved nine people and 27 distribution counts. Larsen got eight years in prison.
Co-defendant John Drake, a high school drug counselor, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 15 to 50 kilograms. He got four years in prison.
Paulsen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 15 to 50 kilograms of cocaine. His operation involved one person and four distribution counts. He got 14 years in prison.
“It is my hope that the judges and the U.S. attorney’s office will see that my sentence is unconscionable and will lower it to be in line with sentences of co-defendants,” Paulsen said Friday from prison.
He is in a medium-security federal prison in Greenville, Ill., while other Doughboy defendants are doing time in more relaxed federal prison camps elsewhere.
Paulsen said he can’t be transferred to prison in Washington, Oregon, California or Arizona because of “no-contact” orders filed by federal prosecutors.
The sentencing judge added two years to Paulsen’s sentence because he received a negligent driving ticket just a few months before the three dozen Doughboy arrests.
Paulsen’s term was further lengthened because officers found assault rifles in his home that were seized by the government.
Lundin argues that firearms were found in Paulsen’s home six to nine months after he stopped selling cocaine.
“There is no evidence he possessed the guns when he sold drugs,” the appeal brief said.
Paulsen’s sentence is “substantially higher than those received by co-defendants guilty of the same or more serious conduct, who did not cooperate as Paulsen did,” Lundin wrote.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice defends the 14-year prison term.
It was legally sound to use Paulsen’s negligent driving conviction to enhance his prison term, Rice said in a response brief.
“A defendant cannot base a challenge to his sentence solely on the lesser sentence given by the court to his co-defendant,” Rice said, citing a 1990 appeals court ruling.
The issue of when Paulsen possessed the firearms should have been raised in District Court, and isn’t an issue for appeal, Rice said.
, DataTimes