Circuit split · federal sentencing
Whether a state drug offense premised on a statutory presumption of intent qualifies as a 'drug trafficking offense' under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.
1 federal appellate case on this question, each acknowledging the disagreement in its own words.
- United States v. Lopez-Salas513 F3D 174
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · January 3, 2008
“None of those cases addresses whether a state’s presumption of intent can create a drug trafficking offense under the Guidelines, however, which is both an issue of first impression in this court and the subject of a circuit split.” — Acknowledges a circuit split
Empirical analysis of this case →
The other side of the split
Decisions the acknowledging court(s) named as the opposing or joined side, quoted in the acknowledging opinion's own words.
- On the other side · 11th Cir.United States v. Madera-Madera333 F.3d 1228
“Madera-Madera, 333 F.3d 1228 , 1231-34 (11th Cir.2003), the Eleventh Circuit held that a Georgia conviction for drug trafficking constituted a drug trafficking offense because the statute presumes an intent to distribute based on the amount of drugs involved.” — United States v. Lopez-Salas, acknowledging the split
- Declined to follow · 5th Cir.United States v. Sanchez-Lopez182 Fed.Appx. 355
- Declined to follow · 5th Cir.United States v. Meabe-Morales165 Fed.Appx. 347
Cases are grouped by the legal question they announce a split on, classified from the court's own acknowledgment sentence. Verified acknowledgments only. Counter-side decisions are extracted from the acknowledging opinions' own text and linked only when the citation resolves in this corpus. See all circuit splits.