United States v. Anderson

Defendant appealed his conviction of one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and one count of possessing heroin with the intent to distribute. Defendant admitted that he distributed heroin, but he argued that the government's decision to prosecute him violated his free exercise rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. 2000bb-1. Defendant alleged that he is a student of Esoteric and Mysticism studies who created a religious non-profit to distribute heroine to the sick, lost, blind, lame, deaf, and dead members of God's Kingdom. The district court assumed without deciding that defendant's practice of distributing heroin was an exercise of sincerely held religious beliefs and that the prosecution therefore substantially burdened his exercise of religion. The court explained that the government was not prosecuting defendant for engaging in a "circumscribed, sacramental use" of heroin, but for distributing heroin to others for non-religious uses. The court explained that it had no difficulty concluding that prosecuting defendant under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1), would further a compelling governmental interest in mitigating the risk that heroin will be diverted to recreational users; the government has chosen the least restrictive means necessary to further that interest; and the court rejected defendant's argument that he was entitled to present his RFRA defense to the jury. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "United States v. Anderson" on Justia Law