
USCA1 Opinion

	




          July 22, 1996         [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT                                                                                      ____________________        No. 95-1229                              UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,                                      Appellee,                                          v.                                    ANGEL SANTANA,                                Defendant, Appellant.                                                                                      ____________________                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT                           FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO                    [Hon. Jos  Antonio Fust , U.S. District Judge]                                              ___________________                                                                                      ____________________                                        Before                               Torruella, Chief Judge,                                          ___________                            Coffin, Senior Circuit Judge,                                    ____________________                               and Cyr, Circuit Judge.                                        _____________                                                                                      ____________________             Thomas R. Lincoln, with whom Law Offices of Thomas R. Lincoln was             _________________            ________________________________        on brief for appellant.              Juan A. Pedrosa, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom             _______________        Guillermo Gil, United States Attorney, Jos  A. Quiles-Espinosa, Senior        _____________                          _______________________        Litigation Counsel, and Nelson P rez-Sosa, Assistant United States                                _________________        Attorney, were on brief for appellee.                                                                                      ____________________                                                                                      ____________________                    Per  Curiam.    Angel   Santana,  one  of  twenty-three                    Per  Curiam.                    ___________          defendants involved  in an extensive drug  trafficking operation,          claims  that the  government  failed to  comply  with their  plea          agreement  by  refusing  to  request  a "substantial  assistance"          departure at  sentencing.  See  18 U.S.C.    3551 and  U.S.S.G.                                       ___          5K1.1.  We find no error.                    Santana  pled guilty  to  conspiracy  to  possess  with          intent to distribute in excess of 2,300 kilograms of cocaine. See                                                                        ___          21 U.S.C.    841(a)(1), 846.  The plea agreement required Santana          to   cooperate   in  the   government's  investigation   of  drug          trafficking,  drug-related  murders,  firearms  trafficking,  and          other criminal  violations, and to continue  to provide complete,          truthful  and accurate  information and  testimony on  an ongoing          basis.   In return, the  government agreed to  request a downward          departure for "substantial assistance."                      Santana contended below that  he complied with the plea          agreement  by  providing information  which  the  government used          against his codefendants,  and by  testifying at the  trial of  a          codefendant.   Thus, he argued, the government acted in bad faith          by  refusing to  request a  downward departure.   The  government          responded, and  the district court agreed,  that Santana breached          the  plea agreement by failing  to disclose, inter  alia, all his                                                       _____  ____          knowledge about  the drug-related murders, thereby  relieving the          government of  its contingent obligation.   See United  States v.                                                      ___ ______________          Santiago-Gonzalez, 66 F.3d 3, 7 (1st Cir. 1995); United States v.          _________________                                _____________          Tilley,  964  F.2d  66, 70  (1st  Cir.  1992);  United States  v.          ______                                          _____________                                          2          Gonzalez-Sanchez, 825 F.2d 572, 578 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 484          ________________                                _____ ______          U.S. 989 (1987).                      We review the  district court's factual findings  under          the "clear error" standard, United States v. Clark, 55 F.3d 9, 11                                      _____________    _____          (1st  Cir.  1995), but  conduct de  novo  review of  its ultimate                                          __  ____          finding  that   the  plea  agreement  was  not  breached  by  the          government.   See  id. at 11;  United States v.  Atwood, 963 F.2d                        ___  ___         _____________     ______          476, 478  (1st Cir. 1992).  There is ample record support for the          district  court ruling  that the  government reasonably  regarded          Santana's  failure to  disclose  all he  knew about  drug-related          murders,  among other matters, as a material breach of their plea          agreement.   As Santana failed  to fulfill  a material  condition          precedent to the government's  obligation to recommend a downward          departure for substantial assistance, the government was under no          obligation to do so.                     Affirmed.                     Affirmed.                    ________                                          3
