District court’s imposition of a life sentence and conviction of a defendant for overseeing a gang-related crack distribution operation including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise (CCE) is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the district court properly admitted evidence of prior bad acts under Rule 404(b) and took steps to ensure that the jury understood the permissible purpose of the prior bad acts testimony; 2) the court’s instructions fairly and accurately informed the jury that it was required to agree unanimously on every element of the CCE offense, including defendant’s managerial role; but 3) defendant’s sentence is vacated and remanded so that the district court may consider whether the disparate treatment of crack versus powder cocaine under the guidelines applicable at the time he was sentenced renders his life sentence unreasonable.
Read US v. Johnson, No. 06-3048
Appeals from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois
Argued January 7, 2009Decided October 14, 2009
Judges
Before: Posner, Ripple, and Rovner, Circuit Judges
Opinion by Rovner, Circuit Judge
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