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924(c) Cert Grant

By Melody Evans and Kirk Redmond

From our ever erudite and vigilant Sentencing Resource Counsel's office:The Supreme Court granted cert today in Dean v. United States (08-5274) to decide whether under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii), the mere discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence or drug trafficking, even if accidental, unintentional or involuntary, is subject to a ten-year sentencing enhancement. The defendant's gun accidentally went off during a bank robbery, and the shot did not harm anyone. Nonetheless, the Eleventh Circuit joined the Tenth Circuit to hold that § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii) contains no intent requirement and thus is a strict liability enhancement. In so holding, the court rejected the DC Circuit's reasoning that the three subsections of § 924(c)(1)(A) work in concert to impose increasingly severe penalties for increasingly egregious conduct...continue to full post

Full post as published by Kansas Federal Defender on November 17, 2008 (boomark / email).