Source: http://ny.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20130904_0001253.SNY.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2017-08-16 15:34:48
Document Index: 402460546

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 922', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 70', '§440', '§ 924']

ALONZO JACKSON, Defendant.
On February 28, 2013, defendant Alonzo Jackson ("Jackson") was indicted on a single count of being a felon in possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The Indictment also cites Jackson's three previous convictions in state court for criminal sales of a controlled substance in the third degree, a Class B felony under New York law. These convictions serve as the basis for invoking the Armed Career Criminal Act ("ACCA"), which, if applicable, would impose a minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment. The ACCA applies where a defendant has previously been convicted of three "serious drug offense[s], " 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1), which are defined as "offense[s] under state law, involving... distributing... a controlled substances... for which a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more is prescribed by law." 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(A)(ii).
Jackson has not indicated whether he intends to plead guilty. He now moves for a pretrial ruling regarding whether the applicability of the ACCA's sentencing enhancements will be determined based on the sentences that applied at the time of his prior convictions or the maximum sentences that apply to those crimes today. The Government contests both the ripeness and the merits of Jackson's motion. For the following reasons, the Court finds that Jackson's challenge is ripe and that the ACCA's sentencing enhancements are not applicable.
The Government argues that issues relating to Jackson's potential maximum and minimum sentences are not ripe for adjudication because he has not yet stated his intention to plead guilty. It relies primarily on U.S. v. Santana , 761 F.Supp.2d 131 (S.D.N.Y. 2011), in which 41 defendants were charged with participating in a drug conspiracy. The defendants in Santana moved for a determination on whether provisions of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 ("FSA") were applicable to their sentences. Not all defendants were similarly situated, however, as some defendants had already pled guilty, others had not and had not represented that they intended to do so, and one had not yet entered a guilty plea but stated that he would do so if the FSA applied to him.
Judge Karas held that for those who had not already pled guilty and had not indicated their intention to do so, "a live controversy does not yet exist (and the issue is not yet fit' for judicial decision)... unless and until sufficient facts are developed or stipulated." Id. at 141. Specifically, factual questions remained regarding the quantity of narcotics that each individual defendant could be found to have distributed or conspired to distribute, which would determine whether the offense for which they might be convicted subjected them to the FSA's mandatory minimum sentencing provisions. Id. at 140-41. With respect to the defendant who had represented that he would plead guilty if the FSA applied to him, Judge Karas found the FSA's applicability "fit for adjudication because no contingencies exist (other than the possibility of acquittal if he chose to go to trial) that would render a decision as to the FSA's applicability to him advisory, and no further facts [would] be established by delay in the Court's decision." Id. at 142.
Jackson has not expressed an intention to plead guilty; but otherwise, he is in the same position as that lone defendant in Santana because there are no further factual questions that preclude the Court from determining the mandatory minimum sentence that he faces. As then-District Judge Cabranes held, "[w]hile it may appear to be... unusual" to determine the applicable mandatory minimum sentence where a defendant has "not yet decided to plead guilty, " a defendant's failure to state his intention, standing alone, does not make the issue unfit for review. U.S. v. Monocchi , 836 F.Supp. 79, 82-83 (D. Conn. 1993).
Whether Jackson's prior convictions constitute "serious drug offenses" is fit for judicial review because it is a "purely legal [issue], and will not be clarified by further factual development." Thomas v. Union Carbide Agric. Prods , 473 U.S. 568, 581 (1985). Jackson's decision "as to whether to proceed to trial or enter a guilty plea can and will be affected by a determination of whether [18 U.S.C. § 924] will be applied to him, " U.S. v. Perez , 696 F.Supp. 55, 56 (S.D.N.Y. 1988), but, assuming arguendo that he is eventually found guilty, whether his guilt results from his own plea or from conviction by a jury would have no bearing on the interpretation or application of 18 U.S.C. § 924.
Though the Government contends that this issue is not ripe, it does not argue that a merits decision by the Court would cause it hardship. Declining to address the issue, however, would lead to "uncertainty create[ing] a considerable hardship for the defendant" because of the "disparity between the possible range of sentences" that might apply.[1] U.S. v. Cortes , 697 F.Supp. 1305, 1307 (S.D.N.Y. 1988); see also U.S. v. Caparotta , 890 F.Supp.2d 200, 211 n.12 (E.D.N.Y. 2012). Without the benefit of the Court's ruling, in determining whether to plead guilty Jackson "would effectively be playing a game of Russian Roulette:' it is possible that [he] might be pleading to a mandatory minimum sentence, but it is also possible that [he] would not face such a mandatory minimum term, " a "difficult situation" that "[t]he Court can readily avoid... by addressing the question raised." Monocchi , 836 F.Supp. at 83. In many cases, additional hardships caused by uncertainty regarding the applicable mandatory minimum sentence might include how that uncertainty "affect[s] a Defendant's trial strategy (i.e. a Defendant might attempt to avoid conviction only on [certain] offenses...) and the advice given by defense counsel as to the consequences of a potential guilty plea." Santana , 761 F.Supp.2d at 142 n.15; cf. Lafler v. Cooper , 132 S.Ct. 1376, 1384 (2012) ("During plea negotiations defendants are entitled to the effective assistance of competent counsel.'" (quoting McMann v. Richardson , 397 U.S. 759, 771 (1970)).
On the other hand, "[n]othing would be gained by postponing a decision." Thomas , 473 U.S. at 582. "It is beyond dispute that a guilty plea must be both knowing and voluntary, " Parke v. Raley , 506 U.S. 20, 28 (1992), which, inter alia, requires district courts to inform defendants of, and ensure that they understand, "any maximum possible penalty" and "any mandatory minimum penalty" before the Court may accept their guilty plea. Fed R. Crim P. 11(b)(1)(H)-(I). "Because the defendant must be aware of the possible sentence to be imposed in order to plead intelligently, the Court's ruling on this motion will not be an advisory opinion." U.S. v. Sanders, No. 88 Crim. 141, 1988 WL 107377, *1 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 4, 1988). Further, it is unclear how the public interest would be served by refusing to inform Jackson of the mandatory minimum sentence that he faces unless and until he appears before the Court to enter a guilty plea, rather than allowing him to take all information regarding sentencing into account while considering how to plead. Accordingly, the Court determines that Jackson's motion is ripe.
In applying the ACCA to narcotics crimes, "Congress chose to rely on the maximum term of imprisonment... prescribed' by state law as the measure of the seriousness of state offenses, " based on the presumption that "if state lawmakers provide that a crime is punishable by 10 years' imprisonment, the lawmakers must regard the crime as serious.'" U.S. v. Rodriquez , 553 U.S. 377, 388 (2008) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(A)(ii)). At the time of Jackson's prior convictions, his sentences were governed by the "Rockefeller Drug Laws" and carried a maximum sentences of twenty-five years' imprisonment. New York has since enacted several Drug Law Reform Acts, including the Drug Law Reform Act of 2009 (the "2009 DLRA"), which lowered the current maximum sentence for class B felonies such as Jackson's to nine years. N.Y. Penal Law § 70.70(a)(2)(i). The 2009 DLRA also allowed those previously convicted of Class B felonies under the Rockefeller Drug Laws to apply for resentencing under certain conditions.[2] See N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law §440.46(1). If Jackson's prior convictions had occurred after the 2009 DLRA or if he had been resentenced under it, there is no question that ACCA would not apply.
McNeill v. U.S. , 131 S.Ct. 2218 (2011), dealt with a similar set of facts. In McNeill, a defendant pled guilty to the unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, after having previously been convicted in North Carolina state court for six drug trafficking convictions between 1991 and 1994, for which he received the then-maximum sentence of 10 years. North Carolina subsequently reduced the maximum sentence for each of his prior convictions to less than four years. The Supreme Court unanimously held that, in applying the ACCA, "a federal sentencing court must determine whether an offense under state law' is a serious drug offense' by consulting the maximum term of imprisonment' applicable to a defendant's previous drug offense at the time of the defendant's state conviction for that offense." Id. at 2224 (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(A)(ii)). In doing so, it specifically rejected the approach adopted by the Second Circuit in U.S. v. Darden , 539 F.3d 116 (2d Cir. 2008), under which district courts were to look at the current state law at the time of federal sentencing in determining the maximum time prescribed for the offense. See McNeill , 131 S.Ct. at 2221. McNeill noted, however, that it was not addressing "a situation in which a State subsequently lowers the maximum penalty applicable to an offense and makes that reduction available to defendants previously convicted and sentenced for that offense." Id. at 2224 n.1. Indeed, in McNeill the Government conceded that "if a State subsequently lowered the maximum penalty and made ...