U.S. v. Ruth

In prosecution on gun and drug charges, Dist. Ct. erred in sentencing defendant to below Guidelines, 108-month term of incarceration, where said sentence was based in part on finding that defendant’s 2006 Illinois conviction for distribution of cocaine qualified as prior “felony drug offense” for purposes of imposing enhanced sentence under 28 USC section 851. Dist. Ct. could not look to defendant’s 2006 conviction to qualify defendant for enhanced sentencing treatment under Section 851, since Illinois statute was categorically broader in its definition of cocaine than definition set forth in federal cocaine statute. As such, remand for new sentencing hearing was required, even though defendant had received below Guidelines sentence, because Dist. Ct. labored under incorrect sentencing range. However, Dist. Ct. did not err in finding that defendant qualified for enhanced treatment as career offender under section 4B1.1 of USSG based, in part, on same 2006 conviction, since career offender guidelines included state-law offenses relating to controlled substance punishable by imprisonment for term exceeding one year.