Does vacating the jury's drug quantity findings require us to vacate the conspiracy conviction itself?

First, vacating the jury's drug quantity findings does not require us to vacate the conspiracy conviction itself. The tainted drug quantity verdict does not affect the validity of the underlying conspiracy conviction because drug quantity was not an element of the charged conspiracy offense; rather, it was the functional equivalent of an element that had to be submitted to a jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt for the purposes of sentencing alone. United States v. Toliver, 351 F.3d 423, 430 (9th Cir.2003) (internal quotation marks omitted), abrogated on other grounds by Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004) ; cf.

[770 F.3d 1250]