United States Seventh Circuit

A mandatory-minimum life sentence imposed upon conviction for conspiracy to distribute marijuana is affirmed over objections that: 1) the government failed to comply with the notice requirements for relying on a prior conviction for sentencing purposes; 2) one prior conviction was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt; and 3) two of defendant's prior convictions should only count as one conviction for sentencing purposes because they did not represent separate "criminal episodes."

Appellate Information

• Argued 04/01/2008
• Decided 08/25/2008
• Published 08/25/2008

Judges

• CUDAHY, Circuit Judge., Before CUDAHY, RIPPLE and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Bradley Blackington (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Indianapolis, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellee., Christopher M. Bailey (argued), Milwaukee, WI, for Defendant-Appellant.