United States v. Jacinto Rodriguez-moreno (526 U.S. 275)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 30, 1999 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 526 U.S. 275 · 119 S. Ct. 1239
- Decided
- March 30, 1999
- Term
- October Term 1998
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. This ease presents the question whether venue in a prosecution for using or carrying a firearm “during and in relation to any crime of violence,” in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 924(e)(1), is proper in any district where the crime of violence vías committed, even if the firearm was used or carried only in a single district. I During a drug transaction that took place in Houston, Texas, a New York drug dealer stole 80 kilograms of a Texas drug distributor’s cocaine. The distributor hired respondent, Jacinto Rodríguez-Moreno, and others to find the dealer and to hold captive the middleman in the transaction, Ephrain Avendano, during the search. In pursuit of the dealer, the distributor and his henchmen drove from Texas to New Jersey with Avendano in tow. The group used Avendano’s New Jersey apartment as a base for their operations for a few days. They soon moved to a house in New York and then to a house in Maryland, taking Avendano with them. Shortly after respondent and the others arrived at the Maryland house, the owner of the home passed around a .357 magnum revolver and respondent took possession of the pistol. As it became clear that efforts to find the New York drug dealer would not bear fruit, respondent told his employer that he thought they should kill the middleman and end their search for the dealer. He put the gun to…
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