Jaquantious Hutchison v. United States
Securities Immigration
Whether the 'and' in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)(1) is conjunctive or disjunctive
QUESTION PRESENTED The Safety Valve provision, 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f), instructs district courts to sentence under the guidelines without regard to any statutory mandatory minimum in certain cases. Along with four other requirements, a defendant satisfies § 3553(f)(1), as amended, if he “does not have—(A) more than four criminal history points, excluding any criminal history points resulting from a 1-point offense ...; (B) a prior 3point offense ...; and (C) a prior 2-point violent offense .” 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f)(1) (emphasis added). The question presented is whether the “and” in § 3553(f)(1) is conjunctive, so that a defendant satisfies that provision as long as he does not meet the criteria in (A), (B), and (C), or whether the “and” means “or,” so that a defendant satisfies that provision only if he does not meet the criteria in (A) or (B) or (C)? i