SCOTUS Makes It Harder to Punish Drug Dealers for Their Customers' Deaths

Published January 27, 2014

SCOTUS Makes It Harder To Punish Drug Dealers For Their Customers' Deaths
In 1986 Congress prescribed a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence for drug distribution when "death or serious bodily injury results from" consumption of the drug. Today the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the penalty applies only when the drug was a necessary or independently sufficient factor in the injury or death. The justices rejected the government's argument that it's enough for the … drug abuse – Yahoo News Search Results