New York, New York (PRWEB) May 14, 2013
In the 14th and latest installment of his awareness campaign that is looking at key cases that have defined United States Sentencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G.), Federal appeals lawyer Stephen N. Preziosi is focusing on DePierre v. United States 131 S. Ct. 2225, in which the Supreme Court affirmed that the term cocaine base refers to all forms of cocaine, and not only to crack cocaine.
In DePierre v. United States 131 S. Ct. 2225, the petitioner DePierre was charged under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 (ADAA) for distributing two bags of cocaine that exceeded 50 grams. At trial, while the Prosecution presented evidence to establish that the distributed substance was indeed cocaine base, it could not prove that it was crack cocaine.
DePierre argued that, while the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 (ADAA) referred to cocaine, an amendment in 1993 to United States Sentencing Guidelines referred only to crack cocaine. As a result, the jury should be given explicit instructions to find him guilty only if it deemed the substance in question was, in fact, crack cocaine.
The District Court, Court of Appeals and ultimately, Supreme Court rejected DePierres argument and affirmed four key points:
