Elias Xavier Rosario Torres v. United States

A person who is convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, but whose firearm qualifies under federal law as a machinegun, faces a mandatory 30-year consecutive sentence, rather than the statute’s otherwise applicable 5-year, 7-year, and 10-year consecutive penalties. Compare 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(B)(ii), with id. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i)-(iii). In the D.C. and Eleventh Circuits, the automatic nature of the weapon is a strict liability element, while in the First Circuit, the government must prove the defendant knew it was a machinegun. The question presented is whether the presumption of mens rea applies to 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(B)(ii) requiring the government to prove that a defendant knew of the automatic capability of a firearm before subjecting the defendant to a consecutive, decades-long mandatory minimum sentence.