Supreme Court of the United States · 2014-01-27
Case and law context
Role: applied; posture: criminal; jury conviction on heroin distribution with death-results enhancement, affirmed by CA8; certiorari by defendant on the causation standard for "results from"; result: mixed; claim: (a)(1),(b)(1)(C)
Instances and excluded annotation blocks
| Case | Element | Holding and scope | Variant | Exact source quotations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /us/571/0204-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 2014 | Distribution (delivery / actual, constructive, or attempted transfer of a controlled substance) | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: conceded; claim: (a)(1),(b)(1)(C) The underlying (a)(1) distribution was not contested; it survives as a lesser included offense with the default (b)(1)(C) sentence. | sale/hand-to-hand-sale-to-user | Count 2 alleged that Burrage unlawfully distributed heroin on April 14, 2010, and that "death ... resulted from the use of th[at] substance"-thus subjecting Burrage to the 20-year mandatory minimum of § 841(b)(1)(C).Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [1760:1976] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.Thus, the crime charged in count 2 of Burrage's superseding indictment has two principal elements: (i) knowing or intentional distribution of heroin, § 841(a)(1), and (ii) death caused by ("resulting from") the use of that drug, § 841(b)(1)(C).Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [7420:7664] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.It is undisputed that Burrage is guilty of that lesser included offense.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [27784:27856] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3. |
| /us/571/0204-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 2014 | Death or serious bodily injury results from the use of such substance (§ 841(b)(1)(A)-(C) 20-year mandatory minimum) | not Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: no-evidence; claim: (a)(1),(b)(1)(C); count: count 2 (heroin sold to Banka; (b)(1)(C) death-results 20-year mandatory minimum); subject: count=count 2 (heroin sold to Banka; (b)(1)(C) death-results 20-year mandatory minimum) Drug was one of several contributing to a mixed-drug overdose; no expert could say the victim would have lived without it, nor that it alone was sufficient. Contributing/substantial-factor causation rejected; independently-sufficient-cause rule left open; proximate cause (foreseeability) question not reached. | but-for-causation/contributing-cause-in-mixed-drug-overdose | Banka and his wife, Tammy Noragon Banka (Noragon), then met with petitioner Marcus Burrage and purchased one gram of heroin from him.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [828:961] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.Dr. Eugene Schwilke, a forensic toxicologist, determined that multiple drugs were present in Banka's system at the time of his death, including heroin metabolites, codeine, alprazolam, clonazepam metabolites, and oxycodone.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [2054:2277] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.Dr. Schwilke could not say whether Banka would have lived had he not taken the heroin.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [2689:2775] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.She described the cause of death as "mixed drug intoxication" with heroin, oxycodone, alprazolam, and clonazepam all playing a "contributing" role.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [3164:3311] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.The court instead gave an instruction requiring the Government to prove "that the heroin distributed by the Defendant was a contributing cause of Joshua Banka's death."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [4268:4436] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3."Results from" imposes, in other words, a requirement of actual causality.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [8866:8940] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.We hold that, at least where use of the drug distributed by the defendant is not an independently sufficient cause of the victim's death or serious bodily injury, a defendant cannot be liable under the penalty enhancement provision of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) unless such use is a but-for cause of the death or injury.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [24546:24864] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.the Government concedes that there is no "evidence that Banka would have lived but for his heroin use,"Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [25006:25109] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.Burrage's conviction with respect to count 2 of the superseding indictment is therefore reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [25138:25314] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3. |
| /us/571/0204-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 2014 | Mens rea: "knowingly or intentionally" (including knowledge that the substance is a controlled substance) | not_reached Excluded from merits counts applied / merits claim: (a)(1),(b)(1)(C) | Unspecified variant | No source quotation recorded for this block. |
| /us/571/0204-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 2014 | Partial penalty-tier drug type and quantity table (selected § 841(b)(1)(A)-(D) hook) | not_reached Excluded from merits counts applied / merits claim: (a)(1),(b)(1)(C) One gram; (b)(1)(C) is the no-threshold tier, so quantity was not in issue. | Unspecified variant | No source quotation recorded for this block. |
| /us/571/0204-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 2014 | Controlled substance (21 U.S.C. §§ 802(6), 812 Schedules I-V) or counterfeit substance (§ 841(a)(2)) | not_reached Excluded from merits counts applied / merits claim: (a)(1),(b)(1)(C) Heroin (Schedule I) undisputed. | Unspecified variant | No source quotation recorded for this block. |
Court interpretations recorded from this case
interpretation
"Results from" imposes, in other words, a requirement of actual causality.
/us/571/0204-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 2014
"Results from" imposes, in other words, a requirement of actual causality.Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [8866:8940] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.Under Burrage v. United States (571 U.S. 204 (2014)), "results from" requires actual ("but-for") causation (at least where the distributed drug was not an independently sufficient cause of death), rejecting "contributing cause" instructions.
interpretation
We hold that, at least where use of the drug distributed by the defendant is not an independently sufficient cause of the victim's death or serious bodily injury, a defendant cannot be liable under the penalty enhancement provision of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) unless such use is a but-for cause of the death or injury.
/us/571/0204-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 2014
We hold that, at least where use of the drug distributed by the defendant is not an independently sufficient cause of the victim's death or serious bodily injury, a defendant cannot be liable under the penalty enhancement provision of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C) unless such use is a but-for cause of the death or injury.Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [24546:24864] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.Under Burrage v. United States (571 U.S. 204 (2014)), "results from" requires actual ("but-for") causation (at least where the distributed drug was not an independently sufficient cause of death), rejecting "contributing cause" instructions.
interpretation
Thus, the crime charged in count 2 of Burrage's superseding indictment has two principal elements: (i) knowing or intentional distribution of heroin, § 841(a)(1), and (ii) death caused by ("resulting from") the use of that drug, § 841(b)(1)(C).
/us/571/0204-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 2014
Thus, the crime charged in count 2 of Burrage's superseding indictment has two principal elements: (i) knowing or intentional distribution of heroin, § 841(a)(1), and (ii) death caused by ("resulting from") the use of that drug, § 841(b)(1)(C).Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/us_571.jsonl#/us/571/0204-01; Unicode character offsets [7420:7664] (end exclusive); SHA-256 79b67b6f900bb4e1d188103a922f7b491948af8153ad62495453588c50be54b3.Penalty enhancements in § 841(b) that increase the statutory maximum or mandatory minimum operate as elements of an aggravated offense, with the base § 841(a)(1) violation serving as a lesser included offense.