United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625 (2002), is a United States Supreme Court case that held the omission of a fact in a federal indictment that would enhance the maximum sentence is not a jurisdictional error and thus is not justification for a vacation of the sentence.

Background

Leonard Cotton was a drug dealer from

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, Maryland who was charged by a federal

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

with conspiracy to possess and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute

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. The prosecution did not state the quantity of drugs in the indictment, however the court later found Cotton responsible for of cocaine. Under federal sentencing guidelines, the maximum sentence for a conviction without a specified quantity is twenty years imprisonment. The Court of Appeals vacated the sentence on the grounds of a jurisdictional error by the amounts not being included in the grand jury indictments. The United States was represented by Deputy Solicitor General

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Decision

The court ruled unanimously 9-0 in favour of the United States. The opinion read as follows: This ruling in part overturned Ex parte Bain, 121 U.S 1 (1887).

References

{{US5thAmendment crimpro, grand United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court 2002 in United States case law Grand Jury Clause case law United States Supreme Court decisions that overrule a prior Supreme Court decision