U. S. Supreme Court Happenings, Favorable Federal Circuit Opinions for the Week of June 10-14, 2024, and U. S. Sentencing Commission releases report on “Methamphetamine Trafficking Offenses in the Federal Criminal Justice System”--

U. S. Supreme Court Happenings– Week ending June 14, 2024 –

The Justices held their June13, 2024 conference. We expect Orders on June 17, 2024. The Court issued more opinion this week on Thursday and Friday. However, none of these opinions were the ones that we have been waiting for – Rahimi, Fischer, Smith and Erlinger to name a few. There are also a number of other lower-profile criminal cases which could prove quite interesting for various reasons, eg, Diaz v. U.S., No. 23-14 and Snyder v. U.S., No. 23-108. There are only two weeks left in this term for the Court. The Court rarely goes into July to decide opinions so that they can take their lavish vacations funded by billionaires. The next two weeks should be interesting and hopefully fruitful for our cause.

Favorable Federal Circuit Opinions for the Week of June 10-14, 2024 –

4th Circuit

United States v. Davis, (No. 20-4250)(4th Cir. June 12, 2024)– Davis was convicted in two conspiracies, for which he was sentenced to a term of 300 months’ imprisonment for each count, to run concurrent to each other. In addition, he was convicted of two counts of possession of a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), for which he was sentenced to 120 months’ imprisonment, to run concurrent to the sentence for the conspiracies. Davis’ trial took place before the Supreme Court issued its decision in Rehaif v. United States, 588 U.S. 225 (2019), so neither the district court nor the parties had the benefit of that ruling, which “brought a sea change to [§ 922(g)(1)] cases.” The Court reversed Davis’ § 922(g) convictions (Counts 16 and 30) for Rehaif error that is cognizable on plain-error review and vacated and remanded for resentencing.

8th Circuit

United States v. Lemoine, (No. 23-2875)(8th Cir. June 13, 2024)– After a jury found Gabriel Eduardo Lemoine guilty of three drug offenses, he renewed his motion for judgment of acquittal, and alternatively for a new trial. The district court found the link between the evidence and Lemoine’s actions was too attenuated and it granted his motion for judgment of acquittal and conditionally granted a new trial if its order of acquittal was overturned on appeal. The Court reversed the district court’s judgment of acquittal and affirm the order for a new trial.

10th Circuit

United States v. Venjohn, (No. 23-8028)(10th Cir. June 10, 2024)– Venjohn was indicted for, and pled guilty to, being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). He was sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment. When calculating his sentence, the district court held that Venjohn’s prior conviction for Colorado felony menacing categorically qualified as a “crime of violence” under § 4B1.2(a)(1) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G”). Venjohn appealed, arguing that the district court’s ruling improperly inflated his sentencing range and asking us to determine if Colorado felony menacing qualifies as a “crime of violence” under the Sentencing Guidelines. In light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Taylor, 142 S. Ct. 2015 (2022), Colorado felony menacing no longer categorically qualifies as a “crime of violence” under the Sentencing Guidelines. The Court therefore reversed and remanded for resentencing.

OTHER NEWS

U. S. Sentencing Commission releases report on “Methamphetamine Trafficking Offenses in the Federal Criminal Justice System”–
A new U.S. Sentencing Commission study found substantial increases in both the prevalence of federal methamphetamine trafficking sentences, and the purity levels of methamphetamine trafficked in the United States.
Over the past 20 years, the number of individuals sentenced federally for methamphetamine trafficking has risen by 168 percent, with methamphetamine now accounting for nearly half (49%) of all federal drug trafficking cases.
The study also revealed that the methamphetamine tested in fiscal year 2022 was on average over 90% pure with a median purity of 98%. Furthermore, the methamphetamine tested was uniformly highly pure regardless of whether it was sentenced as methamphetamine mixture (91% pure on average), methamphetamine actual (93%) or Ice (98%). By comparison, in 2000, the Drug Enforcement Administration reported that methamphetamine purity ranged from 10% to 80% depending on location.
Methamphetamine is one of only five controlled substances where purity affects federal statutory and guideline penalties, resulting in higher penalties when purity levels are confirmed by laboratory testing. By federal statute, it takes ten times as much mixture compared to actual methamphetamine to trigger mandatory minimum penalties.
Because methamphetamine penalties are based in part on purity, penalty exposure and sentencing outcomes are impacted by confirmed purity levels. The Commission’s study found that testing practices varied across the nation and that testing rates across judicial circuits were inconsistent — ranging from under 60% to over 80% of the time. Notably, methamphetamine seized in southwest border districts was more likely to undergo laboratory testing (85%) than in non-border districts (70%).
Methamphetamine trafficking sentences averaged 91 months in fiscal year 2022, the longest among the major federal drug trafficking offenses, including fentanyl (65 months) and heroin (66 months). In addition, methamphetamine trafficking offenses carried mandatory minimum penalties more often (74%) than all other drug trafficking offenses (57%).
Could this mean that the Sentencing Commissioners might be looking a lowering the 10:1 ratio for actual (“pure”) meth to the 1:1 ration for a mixture of meth as we have argued and which some district courts have granted recently? Stay tuned.

Latest Bureau of Prison’s Statistics (From BOP Website):

Fair Sentencing/Retroactive Sentence Reductions 4,142 Orders Granted to date.
Elderly Offender Home Confinement 1,246. Approved to date.
First Step Act Releases 34,157 granted to date.
Compassionate Releases/Reduction in Sentences 4,725 granted to date.
Population in RRC’s 8,413.
Population in Home Confinement 4,941.

COMMENT:

Please note below that Lily will be taking over Carina’s position for Spanish Speaking clients. We can help anyone interested in putting together a package to apply for clemency or pardons. The better the package, the better the chance. In the past, we have had many people get clemencies, computations of sentences and a few pardons.

We are still receiving a great amount of people wanting to find out if they qualify for any of the new USSG Amendments such 814 and 821. Our FREE LOOK program ended Monday, April 1, 2024. We had hundreds of inquiries, but not many people actually qualified. Instead, we suggest that you opt for a Written Case Evaluation (“WCE”) as soon as possible to determine all remedies available to you to gain relief including all of the recent Amendments.

For the last 30 years, we have been very successful. We can help on direct appeals, 2255 motions, 2241 Petitions, First Step Act and Compassionate Release Motions, Earned Time Credits, DC Superior Court Petitions, State Post Conviction, Clemencies and Pardons and other specialized motions to mention a few avenues for relief we cover. The WCE is an excellent low cost tool to see what can be done for you at any stage of the proceedings. It is thorough and detailed from day one of your case to present with our recommendations of any remedies available to gain relief.

If you are serious about fighting your case and want us to evaluate your case to see if you may have relief coming, request a Written Case Evaluation.