United States v. Mao

── United States v. Mao ── Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Date: April 29, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 24-2107 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Appellee, v. MICHAEL MAO, a/k/a Whitebodian, a/k/a Spook, a/k/a Leno, Defendant, Appellant. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS [Hon. F. Dennis Saylor, IV, U.S. District Judge] Before Gelpí, Lynch, and Howard, Circuit Judges. Rory A. McNamara and Drake Law LLC on brief for appellant. Mark T. Quinlivan, Assistant United States Attorney, and Leah B. Foley, United States Attorney, on brief for appellee. April 29, 2026  LYNCH, Circuit Judge. Michael Mao appeals from a 121-month sentence imposed after he pled guilty to conspiracy to commit drug trafficking and money laundering. On August 14, 2024, Mao pled guilty to conspiring with others to distribute controlled substances from at least December 2019 through May 2021 in the Virginia correctional facility where he was incarcerated. His appeal challenges the district court's determination that he was a "career offender" under the United States Sentencing Guidelines (the "Guidelines" or "U.S.S.G."), on two grounds. First, he argues that his prior Virginia conviction under Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-53.1 for using or displaying a firearm in the commission of a robbery was not a "crime of violence" as referenced in U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1. Second, he contends that his conviction for conspiring to distribute drugs was not a "controlled substance offense" under the Guidelines and that this court should overrule its precedent to the contrary. We hold Mao's first challenge is without merit and his second is foreclosed by the law-of-the-circuit doctrine, and even so, we see no reason to depart from our precedent. We affirm his sentence. I. Because Mao pled guilty, "we draw the facts from 'the change-of-plea colloquy, the presentence investigation report ("PSR"), and the sentencing record.'" United States v. Tang, 160 - 2 - F.4th 237, 240-41 (1st Cir. 2025) (quoting United States v. De La Cruz, 91 F.4th 550, 551 (1st Cir. 2024)). From at least December 2019 through May 2021, while incarcerated at the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia, Mao conspired with others to distribute MDMA and buprenorphine (also known as Suboxone). Mao worked with two Massachusetts-based drug traffickers, Sathtra Em and Sarath Yut, and with Kenneth Owen, a correctional officer at Buckingham, to distribute the drugs within the facility and collect the proceeds. A federal grand jury in the District of Massachusetts returned an indictment on January 11, 2023, charging Mao with one count of conspiring to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute MDMA and buprenorphine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). Mao pled guilty to both counts on August 14, 2024, and a sentencing hearing was held on November 18, 2024. On November 8, 2024, the Probation Office filed Mao's PSR, which calculated a base offense level of 20 under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1 and arrived at an adjusted offense level of 26. The PSR further determined that Mao qualified as a career offender under § 4B1.1 and, after a reduction for acceptance of responsibility, calculated a total offense level of 29 and an advisory Guidelines range