Source: http://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/508/129/case.php
Timestamp: 2020-01-20 09:05:51
Document Index: 179993289

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 924', '§ 859', '§ 860', '§ 962', '§ 2114', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924']

It is certainly correct that the word "conviction" can mean either the finding of guilt or the entry of a final judgment on that finding. The word has many other meanings as well, including "[a]ct of convincing of error, or of compelling the admission of a truth"; "[s]tate of being convinced; esp., state of being convicted of sin, or by one's conscience"; "[a] strong persuasion or belief; as, to live up to one's convictions; an intensity of thorough conviction." Webster's New International Dictionary 584 (2d ed. 1950). But of course susceptibility of all of these meanings does not render the word "conviction," whenever it is used, ambiguous; all but one of thecralaw
Petitioner contends that this absurd result is avoided by the "[i]n the case of" language at the beginning of the provision. He maintains that a case is the "case of [a defendant's] second or subsequent" entry of judgment of conviction even before the court has entered that judgment of conviction and even before the court has imposed the sentence that is the prerequisite to the entry of judgment of conviction. We think not. If "conviction" meant "entry of judgment of conviction," a "case" would surely not be the "case of his second or subsequent conviction" until that judgment of conviction was entered, by which time a lower sentence than that whichcralaw
1 Petitioner also argues that the terms "second" and "subsequent" admit of at least two meanings-next in time and next in order or succession. That ambiguity is worth pursuing if "conviction" means "judgment," since a judgment entered once-in-time can (as here) include multiple counts. The point becomes irrelevant, however, when "conviction" means (as we hold) a finding of guilt. Unlike a judgment on several counts, findings of guilt on several counts are necessarily arrived at successively in time.cralaw
2 The dissent contends that even under our reading of the statute, "prosecutors will continue to enjoy considerable discretion in deciding how many § 924(c) offenses to charge in relation to a criminal transaction or series of transactions." Post, at 145. That discretion, however, pertains to the prosecutor's universally available and unvoidable power to charge or not to charge an offense. Petitioner's reading would confer the extraordinary new power to determine the punishment for a charged offense by simply modifying the manner of charging.cralaw
The present statute, however, does not use the term "offense," so it cannot possibly be said that it requires a criminal act after the first conviction. What it requires is a conviction after the first conviction. There is utterly no ambiguity in that, and hence no occasion to invoke the rule of lenity. (The erroneous lower-court decisions cited by the dissent, see post, at 142-144, do not alter this assessment;cralaw
3 The dissent quotes approvingly the ungarnished policy view that "'punishing first offenders [i. e., repeat offenders who have not yet been convicted of an earlier offense] with twenty-five-year sentences does not deter crime as much as it ruins lives.'" Post, at 146, n. 10 (quoting United States v. Jones, 965 F.2d 1507, 1521 (CAS 1992)).cralaw
2 See, e. g., 21 U. S. C. § 859(b) (1988 ed., Supp. III) (distribution of drugs to minors); 21 U. S. C. § 860(b) (1988 ed., Supp. III) (distribution of drugs near schools); 21 U. S. C. § 962(b) (importation of controlled substances).cralaw
3 See, e. g., 18 U. S. C. § 2114 ("subsequent offense" of mail robbery), as interpreted in United States v. Cooper, 580 F.2d 259, 261 (CA7 1978) ("obvious" that "subsequent offense" language must be read as applying only to offenses committed after conviction on a prior offense).cralaw
Section 924(c) was construed by this Court for the first time in Simpson v. United States, 435 U. S. 6 (1978), a case involving sentencing of a defendant who had committed two bank robberies, two months apart. Convicted in two sepa-cralaw
"I agree with the holding in Simpson that Congress did not intend to 'pyramid' punishments for the use of a firearm in a single criminal transaction. Yet I find quite implausible the proposition that Congress, in enacting § 924(c)(1), did not intend this general enhancement provision-with its stiff sanctions for first offenders and even stiffer sanctions for recidivists-to serve as an alternative source of enhanced punishment for those who commit felonies, such as bank robbery and assaulting a federal officer, that had been previously singled out by Congress as warranting special enhancement, but for which a lesser enhancement sanction than that imposed by § 924(c) had been authorized."cralaw
5 See Brief for United States in Busic v. United States, O. T. 1979, No. 78-6020, p. 19 ("Section 924(c) establishes mandatory minimum sentences, requires increasingly severe sentences for recidivists (without possibility of suspension or probation), and prohibits concurrent sentencing"); Brief for United States in Simpson v. United States, O. T. 1977, No. 76-5761, pp. 13-14 (discussing application of sentencing provisions "[i]f the gunwielding bank robber were a recidivist").cralaw
''While § 924(c)(1) is, at best, hard to follow in simple English, we concur with the reasoning in Rawlings that two distinct violations of the statute trigger the subsequent sentence enhancement provisions of § 924(c)(1). Thus, the commission of two violations of § 924(c)(1) would result in a fiveyear consecutive sentence for the first conviction and a ten-year consecutive sentence for the second § 924(c)(1) conviction. However, because of the complexity of this issue, we find the district court's failure to sentence Nabors to a ten-year consecutive sentence for his second § 924(c)(1) conviction not clearly erroneous." United States v. Nabors, 901 F. 2d, at 1358-1359.cralaw
8"The 1988 amendment raised the penalty for repeat violators of the statute to twenty years. In the version that was in effect at the time of the present crimes, the penalty for repeat violators was ten years. Arguably, the district judge should have sentenced appellant to one five-year and two ten-year consecutive terms of imprisonment for his convictions under Counts V through VII. However, since the United States has not counter-appealed on this point, we will not address it." United States v. Luskin, 926 F. 2d, at 374, n. 2.cralaw
It is true, as the Court points out in passionate defense of its reading, that the words "offense" and "conviction" are not identical. What is at issue here, however, is not whether the terms mean the same thing in all usages, but whether they mean the same thing when they are used by Congress to identify the class of repeat offenders subject to enhanced sentences. Cf. ante, at 131-132 (context gives meaning to word "conviction"). If there is any difference between the terms as so used, it only lends further support to the conclusion that § 924(c) is a recidivist provision. As discussed above, repeat offender statutes couched in terms of "offense" were understood at the time of § 924(c)'s enactment to identify offenses committed after a prior conviction. See supra, at 138-139. A fortiori, "use of the word 'conviction' rather than wording describing the offense suggests an intent to reach recidivists who repeat conduct after conviction in the judicial system for prior offenses." United States v. Godwin, 758 F. Supp. 281, 283 (ED Pa. 1991).cralaw
The Court finds additional support for its conclusion in the fact that at least some contrary readings of § 924(c) would "give a prosecutor unreviewable discretion either to impose or to waive the enhanced sentencing provisions" through the manner in which she charged a crime or crimes. Ante, at 133. I have already pointed out that the majority's particular concern is not implicated if § 924(c) is treated as a straightforward recidivist provision, supra, at 142-143; under that construction, a defendant who commits a second § 924(c) offense before trial on the first would not be eligible for sentence enhancement whether the two counts were tried separately or together. I would add only that the Court's alternative reading does not solve the broader problem it identifies. As the Government concedes, see Tr. of Oral Arg. 31-32, prosecutors will continue to enjoy considerable discretion in deciding how many § 924(c) offenses to charge in relation to a criminal transaction or series of transactions. An armed defendant who robs a bank and, at the same time, assaults a guard, may be subject to one or two § 924(c) charges; the choice is the prosecutor's, and the consequence, under today's holding, the difference between a 5- and a 15year enhancement. Cf. United States v. Jim, 865 F. 2d, at 212 (defendant charged with three counts under § 924(c), each arising from the same criminal episode); United States v. Fontanilla, 849 F. 2d, at 1257 (same).cralaw