United States v. Sharon Dunnigan (507 U.S. 87)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 23, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 507 U.S. 87 · 113 S. Ct. 1111
- Decided
- February 23, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented is whether the Constitution permits a court to enhance a defendant’s sentence under United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual §3C1.1 (Nov. 1989), if the court finds the defendant committed perjury at trial. We answer in the affirmative. I Respondent, Sharon Dunnigan, was charged in a single count indictment with conspiracy to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U. S. C. § 846. After entering a plea of not guilty, she stood trial. The case in chief for the United States consisted of five witnesses who took part in, or observed, respondent’s cocaine trafficking during the summer of 1988. The first witness was Freddie Harris, a cocaine dealer in Charleston, West Virginia. Harris testified that respondent traveled between Charleston and Cleveland, Ohio, numerous times during the summer in question to purchase cocaine for him. He further stated that either he or his associate John Dean accompanied respondent on several of these trips. Dean was the second witness, and he recounted his trips to Cleveland with respondent during the same period to purchase cocaine. He also described meetings with both respondent and Harris for the purpose of delivering cocaine. Three more Government witnesses followed. Andre Charlton testified that respondent, at her own apartment, delivered several ounces of…
Excerpt of a 19,555-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.