United States v. Johnson

A jury convicted Karen Johnson of conspiring to distribute cocaine base. She appealed, arguing the district court violated the Sixth Amendment when it imposed on her the 120-month minimum sentence mandated in 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) without submitting the drug-quantity issue to the jury for determination under the beyond-a-reasonable doubt standard. If she prevailed on her Sixth Amendment claim, Johnson argued a separate drug-quantity finding made by the district court (made solely for purposes of calculating a sentencing range under the Sentencing Guidelines) was not supported by sufficient evidence. In the alternative, Johnson argued her conviction had to be set aside because the district court used an improper evidentiary standard in allowing the government to adduce at trial intercepted cell phone communications. After review, the Tenth Circuit rejected Johnson’s challenges to her conviction and to the drug-quantity determination made by the district court for purposes of the Sentencing Guidelines. The district court did, however, plainly err in applying the mandatory minimum set out in 841(b)(1)(A)(iii) without submitting the quantity issue to the jury for resolution under the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard. Accordingly, the district court was affirmed in part and reversed in part and the matter remanded for further proceedings. View "United States v. Johnson" on Justia Law