Drug and Firearm Sentences Affirmed
In Abbott v. US, No. 09-479, defendants’ sentences for drug and firearm offenses and for violating 18 U.S.C. section 924(c), which prohibits using, carrying, or possessing a deadly weapon in connection with “any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime,” and imposes a mandatory minimum sentence of five-years’ imprisonment, are affirmed where 1) a defendant is subject to the highest mandatory minimum specified for his conduct in section 924(c), unless another provision of law directed to conduct proscribed by section 924(c) imposes an even greater mandatory minimum; and 2) defendants’ challenges to their section 924(c) sentences, resting their objections on the “except” clause prefacing section 924(c)(1)(A) are rejected as there was strong contextual support for the view that the “except” clause was intended to simply clarify section 924(c), and it applied only when a greater minimum sentence is otherwise provided.
Related Resources
- Read the Supreme Court’s Decision in Abbott v. US, No. 09-479
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