CONSECUTIVE SENTENCE

Issues

This case asks the Supreme Court to consider whether the language of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) and § 924(j) allow for cumulative punishments for a singular criminal act that violates both provisions of this statute. Sections 924(c) and (j) punish the use of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime or drug trafficking. Dwayne Barrett contends that § 924(c) and (j) are not separate crimes because they punish the same underlying singular act, and Congress has authorized cumulative sentences for the same act. Charles L. McCloud, as court-appointed amicus curiae, argues that § 924(c) and (j) are two separate crimes, and Congress intended to allow for cumulative punishments for a single act that violates both statutes. The Supreme Court’s decision in this case raises concerns regarding the justice of sentencing to punish multiple violations involving a singular act and the duties of the legislative and judicial branches in determining the scope of criminal punishment. 

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

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Issues

In this case, the Supreme Court will decide the scope of a trial court’s discretion in considering the mandatory consecutive sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) (mandating a minimum sentence if a firearm is used in furtherance of a violent crime) when determining a sentence for the predicate offense. In deciding whether the lower courts erred by not further reducing the petitioner’s sentence for his predicate offense, the Court will look at whether United States v. Pepper (holding that 18 U.S.C. § 3661 implied that a sentencing court should consider all relevant information about a defendant when determining an appropriate sentence) overruled United States v. Hatcher (holding that a trial court could not impose a mere one-day sentence for crimes that were not subject to a mandatory minimum just because the § 924(c)-mandated sentence had been 300 months). Petitioner Levon Dean, Jr. argues that trial courts should be given full discretion to consider all possible information and that Congressional support of a shorter sentence is evinced by the text of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1986. The United States, as respondent, counters that the Sentencing Reform Act cannot be used simply to lower the aggregate sentence and that Congress specifically intended to prohibit lighter sentences because of the unique dangers of a § 924(c) violation. If the Court rules that Pepper overruled Hatcher, this will give trial courts more discretion in fashioning shorter aggregate sentences for defendants who used a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime.

Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties

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Issues

Petitioner Monroe Setser’s arrest in Lubbock, Texas for drug- and firearms-related crimes resulted in both state and federal criminal charges as well as the revocation of his probation for an unrelated state offense. Setser pleaded guilty in federal court and received a 151-month prison sentence that would run concurrently to the state sentence to be imposed for the same incident but consecutively to the sentence imposed pursuant to his probation revocation. The Fifth Circuit affirmed on appeal. Setser now argues that federal district courts lack the authority to impose federal sentences that run consecutively to anticipated state sentences. He notes that Congress has not demonstrated any intention to the contrary. By invitation of the Supreme Court, attorney Evan Young responds that district courts have broad discretion in determining how federal sentences will be served. Young argues that this determination must remain an exclusively judicial function.

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