Roundtree v. United States

On remand, the district court concluded that petitioner was procedurally barred from asserting a claim under Burrage v. United States, 134 S. Ct. 881, 892 (2014), denied relief, and issued a certificate of appealability. The Supreme Court in Burrage held that, if the drug distributed by the defendant is not an independently sufficient cause of the victim’s death or serious bodily injury, a defendant cannot be held liable under the penalty enhancement of 21 U.S.C. 814(b)(1)(C) unless such use is a but-for cause of the death or injury. The Eighth Circuit affirmed, holding that an incorrect jury instruction did not result in prejudice excusing petitioner's procedural default under Burrage. In this case, no reasonable jury would have found that the heroin provided by petitioner was a contributing factor but not the but-for-cause of the victim's fatal overdose. View "Roundtree v. United States" on Justia Law