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Second Circuit Affirms Imposition of a Ten-Year Statutory Mandatory Minimum in Place at the Time of the Offense Despite Its Expiration Prior to the Sentencing Date

By Douglas A. Berman

In United States v. Klump, available here, the Second Circuit held that the district court properly applied the ten-year statutory mandatory minimum sentence in place at the time the defendant committed the crime, despite the shorter statutory mandatory minimum in force at the time of sentencing. In February 2003, the defendant was charged with, inter alia, one count of possessing a semiautomatic assault weapon in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime. At the time of Klump?s offense and at the time he was convicted, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(B)(i) mandated a minimum sentence of ten years? imprisonment. Fifteen months before the defendant was sentenced, however, this provision expired pursuant to a sunset provision. Klump argued that the district court should have imposed the five-year mandatory minimum in effect at the time he was sentenced...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 04, 2008 (boomark / email).