Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/22-49_d18e.pdf
Page Number: 6

4 

LORA v. UNITED STATES 

Opinion of the Court 

“A person who, in the course of a violation of subsec-
tion (c), causes the death of a person through the use of
a firearm, shall— 

“(1) if the killing is a murder (as  defined in section 
1111),  be  punished  by  death  or  by  imprisonment  for 
any term of years or for life; and

“(2) if the killing is manslaughter (as defined in sec-
tion  1112),  be  punished  as  provided  in  that  section.” 
§924(j). 

Subsection (j) contains no consecutive-sentence mandate. 

B 

Here, Lora was convicted of a subsection (j) offense.  The 
parties  dispute  whether  the  sentence  for  that  offense  can
run  concurrently  with  another  sentence,  or  whether  it  is
subject  to  subsection  (c)’s  consecutive-sentence  mandate. 
We hold the former. 

Subsection  (c)’s  consecutive-sentence  requirement  ap-
plies to a “term of imprisonment imposed on a person under 
this subsection”—i.e., subsection (c).  §924(c)(1)(D)(ii) (em-
phasis added).  By those plain terms, Congress applied the 
consecutive-sentence  mandate  only  to  terms  of  imprison-
ment  imposed  under  that  subsection.  And  Congress  put 
subsection (j) in a different subsection of the statute. 

Drilling  into  the  details  confirms  that  straightforward 
reasoning.  To begin, subsection (c) sets forth a host of of-
fenses and the corresponding “term[s] of imprisonment” to
be  imposed.    §§924(c)(1),  (5);  supra,  at  3.  Those  are  the 
“term[s]  of  imprisonment  imposed  . . .  under  this  subsec-
tion”  that  the  consecutive-sentence  mandate  references. 
§924(c)(1)(D)(ii).  That  is,  by  echoing  the  phrase  “term  of
imprisonment” and referring inwards to “this subsection,”
§924(c)(1)(D)(ii)  points  to  the  terms  of  imprisonment  pre-
scribed within subsection (c). 

A sentence imposed under subsection (j) does not qualify.
To  state  the  obvious  again,  subsection  (j)  is  not  located