United States v. Norman — 935 F.3d 232 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 2019

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 2019-08-15

21usc846: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)

Original case on neochart.com

Case and law context

21 U.S.C. § 846

Role: comparator; posture: criminal appeal challenging a Guidelines § 2K2.1 enhancement predicated on a prior 21 U.S.C. § 846 conviction; § 846 compared categorically with generic conspiracy; sentence affirmed on plain-error review; result: not-decided; claim:

Uncertainty

None recorded

Misfit

No § 846 charge is before the court; "result" is not-decided for § 846 even though the Government prevailed on the appeal (sentence affirmed).

B · Case × element grid

Top-level elements follow claim order in panels of up to six elements. Case rows repeat across panels. Every recorded block retains its holding and basis; multiple blocks are not merged into a case-level verdict. ✓ satisfied · ✗ not satisfied · ○ not reached · · not addressed. Muted blocks are not counted. Sub-element evidence remains on case and element pages.

Elements 1–6 of 8

21 U.S.C. § 846
CaseIdentified offense in Subchapter IAgreement of two or more persons to the unlawful objectKnowledge of the unlawful agreement and objectiveKnowing and voluntary participation in the agreementWithdrawal before the applicable limitations periodIntent to commit the identified object offense
United States v. Norman — 935 F.3d 232 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 2019 (21usc846: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md))· not addressed
○ not reached · basis not recordedNot counted: comparator/merits
· not addressed· not addressed· not addressed· not addressed

Elements 7–8 of 8

21 U.S.C. § 846
CaseConduct beyond preparation strongly corroborating intentObject-offense penalty incorporation
United States v. Norman — 935 F.3d 232 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 2019 (21usc846: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md))· not addressed· not addressed

Instances and excluded annotation blocks

Annotation blocks, including explicitly excluded context
CaseElementHolding and scopePatternExact source quotations
United States v. Norman — 935 F.3d 232 (2019) · United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · 2019 — not reached (21usc846: author: Flash3 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md))Agreement of two or more persons to the unlawful objectnot_reached
Excluded from merits counts
comparator / merits

party: Thomas Edward Norman; count: sentencing enhancement predicate (prior § 846 conspiracy); subject: party=Thomas Edward Norman; count=sentencing enhancement predicate (prior § 846 conspiracy)

Fourth Circuit uses § 846 only as a yardstick: because § 846 conspiracy requires no overt act it is broader than generic conspiracy under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2, so the enhancement was error, but not plain error; the sentence is affirmed. Nothing about Norman's prior agreement is decided.
categorical-approach/no-overt-act-so-broader-than-generic-conspiracy
And it is undisputed that "conspiracy" under § 846 does not require an overt act.
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_935.jsonl#/f3d/935/0232-01; Unicode character offsets [10488:10569] (end exclusive); SHA-256 3343cbfb9dc47490981c998a6eb8d91051f7a9349e09901b1cbacbec9570d8b0.

Evidence kind: rule; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

We therefore hold that a "conspiracy" conviction under § 846 is a categorical mismatch to the generic crime of conspiracy enumerated in § 4B1.2(b).
Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_935.jsonl#/f3d/935/0232-01; Unicode character offsets [14869:15016] (end exclusive); SHA-256 3343cbfb9dc47490981c998a6eb8d91051f7a9349e09901b1cbacbec9570d8b0.

Evidence kind: held; polarity: not recorded; absent flag: 0; quoted-rule flag: 0 (1 = tagged; 0 = not tagged)

Court interpretations recorded from this case