Allen Ryan Alleyne, Petitioner v. United States (570 U.S. 99)

U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 17, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)

Citation
570 U.S. 99 · 133 S. Ct. 2151
Decided
June 17, 2013
Term
October Term 2012
Vote
5–4
Majority author
Justice Thomas
Issue area
Criminal Procedure
Disposition
Vacated and remanded
Outcome
Petitioning party won
Ideological direction
Liberal

Opinion excerpt

I Petitioner Allen Ryan Alleyne and an accomplice devised a plan to rob a store manager as he drove the store's daily deposits to a local bank. By feigning car trouble, they tricked the manager to stop. Alleyne's accomplice approached the manager with a gun and demanded the store's deposits, which the manager surrendered. Alleyne was later charged with multiple federal offenses, including robbery affecting interstate commerce, 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a), and using or carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, § 924(c)(1)(A). Section 924(c)(1)(A) provides, in relevant part, that anyone who "uses or carries a firearm" in relation to a "crime of violence" shall: "(i) be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years; "(ii) if the firearm is brandished, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years; and "(iii) if the firearm is discharged, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years." The jury convicted Alleyne. The jury indicated on the verdict form that Alleyne had "[u]sed or carried a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence," but did not indicate a finding that the firearm was "[b]randished." App. 40. The presentence report recommended a 7-year sentence on the § 924(c) count, which reflected the mandatory minimum sentence for cases in which a firearm has been "brandished," § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). Alleyne…

Excerpt of a 61,033-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.

← Back to the decisions database