Greenlaw v. United States of America
Issues
Can a federal appeals court judge can decide to increase a criminal defendant's sentence without being asked to do so by the Government?
Michael Greenlaw was a member of the "Family Mob" gang which sold crack cocaine on the south side of Minneapolis. Police arrested Greenlaw after he and another Family Mob member used dynamite to destroy a portion of a rival gang member's home. Greenlaw was charged and convicted by a jury of various drug and conspiracy crimes and two firearm-related offenses: carrying a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence. The Government asserted that the second firearm charge constituted a "second or subsequent offense" under 18 U.S.C. ยง 924(c), and therefore required the court to impose a consecutive 25 year incarceration sentence to any other sentence. The trial court rejected the Government's assertion and sentenced Greenlaw to 442 months in prison, 120 of which (10 years) were imposed as a result of the second weapons charge. The Government did not exercise its right to appeal the sentence, nor did it cross-appeal the sentence when Greenlaw appealed it to the Eighth Circuit. Despite the absence of an argument by the Government for an increase, the Eighth Circuit decided to remand the case to the lower court with an order to increase Greenlaw's sentence by 15 years. Following denial of a petition for a rehearing, Greenlaw filed for certiorari with the Supreme Court challenging the Eighth Circuit's sua sponte increase in his incarceration sentence. The Supreme Court's decision in this case will reflect its view of the appropriate balance between the interest of the courts in consistently interpreting and applying sentencing statutes, and defendants' right to appeal without subjecting themselves to a sentence increase.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
In 1937, this Court described as "inveterate and certain," the principle that an appellee "may not, in the absence of a cross-appeal ... 'attack the decree with a view either to enlarging his own rights there under or lessening the rights of his adversary." Morley Constr. Co. v. Maryland Cas. Co., 300 U.S. 185, 191 (1937) (citation omitted). In light of this principle, numerous courts have held that a court of appeals may not order an increase in a criminal defendant's sentence in the absence of an appeal or cross-appeal by the Government. The Eighth and Tenth Circuits, however, have held that courts of appeals may sua sponte order increases in a defendant's sentence when the district court has failed to impose a statutory mandatory minimum sentence, even if the Government has not appealed or cross-appealed the sentence. The question presented is: Whether a federal court of appeals may increase a criminal defendant's sentence sua sponte and in the absence of a cross-appeal by the Government.
Michael Greenlaw was a member of a gang named the "Family Mob" that sold crack cocaine on the south side of Minneapolis. Family Mob members worked together to sell two to three kilograms of crack cocaine per week. The gang members kept guns at each others' houses in case they were needed to intimidate non-gang members and keep others from encroaching on the Family Mob's "territory."U.S. v. Carter, 481 F.3d 601, 604-605 (8th Cir. 2007).