Pleas & Sentencing – Sentence Correction

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Criminal

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: FLAUM, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

Pleas & Sentencing – Sentence Correction

No. 14-2818

Timothy Vallejo v. United States of America

No. 14-2737

Emmanuel Martinez v. United States of America

Petitioners’ life sentences not in violation of 8th amendment because they were not mandatory.

“Two neighboring statutes that penalize violent racketeering crimes are drafted very differently. These statutes indicate that the only sentencing options for racketeering crimes involving murder are death or life imprisonment. See 18 U.S.C. § 1958 (prohibiting murder for hire and providing that “if death results,” the pepetrator “shall be punished by death or life imprisonment”); 18 U.S.C. § 1959 (prohibiting violent crimes in aid of racketeering activities and providing that an offender “shall be punished—for murder, by death or life imprisonment”). These penalty provisions are severe, but they are not complex. Had Congress wished to provide for a mandatory penalty for murder under § 1963, it easily could have used this same language. See, e.g., Whitfield v. United States, 543 U.S. 209, 216–17 (2005) (finding that where Congress imposed an explicit overt act requirement in twenty-two conspiracy statutes, but did not do so in a provision governing conspiracy to commit money laundering, the Court would not read in such a requirement); Central Bank of Denver v. First Interstate Bank, 511 U.S. 164, 176–77 (1994) (holding that because “Congress knew how to impose aiding and abetting liability when it chose to do so,” and the statute in question did not include the words “aid” and “abet,” the statute did not provide for aiding and abetting liability).”

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.