United States v. Hernandez

The Eleventh Circuit held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by disregarding the Federal Rules of Evidence during a 21 U.S.C. 851 hearing. Under 21 U.S.C. 841(b), defendants convicted of certain drug-related felonies are subjected to a 240-month mandatory minimum if they have previously been convicted of a drug-related felony. A section 851 hearing is required if the existence of the prior conviction is in dispute and the decision to apply the Federal Rules of Evidence during the hearing is left to the discretion of the district court. In this case, the court affirmed the district court's judgment, holding that there was sufficient evidence for the district court to find beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was previously convicted of possession of cocaine. Furthermore, it was not reasonably probable that the outcome of the proceedings would have changed even if the district court had applied the correct standard. View "United States v. Hernandez" on Justia Law