United States Supreme Court

Defendant's conviction for unlawfully distributing heroin where death resulted from the use of that substance, which subjected him to a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence under the penalty enhancement provision of the Controlled Substances Act, is reversed and remanded, where 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 for penalty enhancement under the Controlled Substances Act unless such use is a but-for cause of the death or injury.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/27/2014
• Published 01/27/2014

Judges

• SCALIA

Court

• United States Supreme Court

Counsel