Terrance Pearson v. United States

18 U.S.C. § 924(c) punishes a person who “uses or carries” a firearm “during and in relation to” a crime of violence, or who “possesses” one “in furtherance of” such a crime, with a mandatory consecutive minimum sentence of five, seven, or ten years. The Ninth Circuit affirmed a ten-year mandatory consecutive minimum sentence for a defendant who was held liable for a co-conspirator’s use of a firearm under Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640 (1946). The questions presented are: I. Whether a defendant may be convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) on Pinkerton liability alone, because a co-conspirator used, carried, or possessed a firearm in a way the defendant could reasonably have foreseen, without proof that the defendant himself had the intent and advance knowledge that Rosemond v. United States, 572 U.S. 65 (2014), requires for accomplice liability under the same statute? II. Whether a jury instruction that permits conviction under Pinkerton if “at least one conspirator” committed every element of the offense, without requiring unanimity as to which conspirator or which robbery, violates the Sixth Amendment? -i-