Aaron M. Haynes v. United States
Securities Immigration
Whether the 'and' in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)(1) means 'and' or 'or'
QUESTION PRESENTED The “safety valve” provision of the federal sentencing statute requires a district court to ignore any statutory mandatory minimum and instead follow the Sentencing Guidelines if a defendant was convicted of certain nonviolent drug crimes and can meet five sets of criteria. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)(1)-(5). Congress Amended the first set of criteria, in § 3553(f)(1), in the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, § 402, 132Stat. 5194, 5221, broad criminal justice and sentencing reform legislation designed to provide a second chance for nonviolent offenders. A defendant satisfies§ 3553(f)(1), as amended, if he “does not have—(A)more than 4 criminal history points, excluding any criminal history points resulting from a 1-point offense, as determined under the sentencing guidelines;(B) a prior 3-point offense, as determined under the sentencing guidelines; and (C) a prior 2-point violent offense, as determined under the sentencing guidelines.” 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)(1) (emphasis added). The question presented is whether the “and” in 18 U.S.C. § 3553((1) means “and,” so that a defendant satisfies the provision so long as he does not have(A) more than 4 criminal history points, (B) a 3-point offense, and (C) a 2-point offense (as the Fourth and Ninth and Eleventh Circuits Hold), or whether the “and” means “or,” so that a defendant satisfies the provision so long as he does not have (A) more than 4 criminal history points, (B) a 3-point offense, or (C) a 2-point violent offense (as the Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits hold). i