US v. Johnson: In the 1990s, Johnson was part of a drug trafficking scheme during which he was involved with the killing of two people. He was arrested in 1997 and charged, with numerous charges, including two counts of murder in aid of racketeering, along with two codefendants – Damein and Rickey – who were charged in one of the deaths. The codefendants both pleaded guilty, cooperated with the Government was received sentences of 20 years and 40 years in prison, respectively. In addition, Brown (the hitman used for the second killing) was ultimately charged and pleaded guilty, receiving a sentence of five years in prison. Johnson went to trial and was convicted of (among other things) of manslaughter in connection with one killing and aiding and abetting murder for the second. He received two life sentences, plus 790 months in prison.
In 2021, Johnson filed a motion for a reduced sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A) arguing that the disparity between his sentence and those of his codefendants (and Brown) constituted “extraordinary and compelling” reasons for a reduction. The district court granted the motion, concluding that disparities did warrant compassionate release.
On appeal, a divided Fourth Circuit affirmed the grant of relief in this case. The court concluded that such sentencing disparities can be the basis for a compassionate release motion, holding that the list of circumstances laid out in the applicable Guideline section was not exhaustive. After that, it was a question of whether the district court abused its discretion in granting relief, which the court held it did not.
Judge Niemeyer dissented, arguing both that such disparities are not a legitimate legal basis for such relief and that, even if they were, the disparities in this case were not sufficient, stressing the cooperation provided by Johnson’s codefendants (and Brown).
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