Dean v. United States
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 3, 2017 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Decided
- April 3, 2017
- Term
- October Term 2016
- Vote
- 8–0
- Majority author
- Justice Roberts
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. Congress has made it a separate offense to use or possess a firearm in connection with a violent or drug trafficking crime. 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). That separate firearm offense carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for the first conviction and 25 years for a second. Those sentences must be in addition to and consecutive to the sentence for the underlying predicate offense. The question presented is whether, in calculating the sentence for the predicate offense, a judge must ignore the fact that the defendant will serve the mandatory minimums imposed under § 924(c). I Levon Dean, Jr., and his brother robbed a methamphetamine dealer in a Sioux City motel room. Less than two weeks later, they robbed another drug dealer at his home. During each robbery, Dean's brother threatened the victim with a modified semiautomatic rifle, later using that rifle to club the victim on the head. Dean, meanwhile, ransacked the area for drugs, money, and other valuables. A federal grand jury returned a multicount indictment charging Dean and his brother with a host of crimes related to the two robberies. Following a joint trial, a jury convicted Dean of one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, two counts of robbery, and one count of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. He was also convicted of two counts of possessing and…
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