Former billionaire crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years for stealing $8 billion from customers of bankrupt FTX
Best views, weather, etc. How to test them 👓 SC, Ala. sites look back Betty Ford honored
NEWS
Supreme Court of the United States

War on drugs meets rule of law at Supreme Court

Richard Wolf
USA TODAY
Justice Antonin Scalia ruled that a drug must be the proven cause of death before a prison sentence can be extended.
  • Heroin was contributing factor in drug user%27s death
  • For enhanced sentence%2C justices say it must be sole cause
  • Decision could make lengthy sentences harder to apply

WASHINGTON -- The war on drugs ran afoul of the Supreme Court on Monday.

The justices ruled unanimously that a heroin dealer cannot be held liable for a client's death and given a longer sentence if the heroin was only a contributing factor, and not necessarily the sole cause.

Not only does that likely mean a reduced sentence for Marcus Burrage, who received 20 additional years in prison because of the death, but a tougher time for prosecutors in general when it comes to extending drug sentences -- something the Obama administration had argued in November.

Still, Justice Antonin Scalia said in his ruling, requiring specific cause of death "is not nearly the insuperable barrier the government makes it out to be."

The case hinged on a 1986 federal drug law that imposes a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence when "death or serious bodily injury results from the use" of a drug dealer's wares. The key words are "results from" -- something quite different from the "contributing cause" standard adopted by the government and two lower federal courts.

Burrage received 20 years for the drug sale and 20 more as a result of Joshua Banka's death in 2010. An expert in the case said Banka's death would have been "very less likely" had he not used the heroin. But there were other drugs in his system, making it less clear that the heroin was the decisive factor.

"Is it sufficient that use of a drug made the victim's death 50 percent more likely? Fifteen percent? Five? Who knows?" Scalia said. "Uncertainty of that kind cannot be squared with the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard applicable in criminal trials or with the need to express criminal laws in terms ordinary persons can comprehend."

Featured Weekly Ad