Matches in DBpedia 2014 for { ?s ?p Burgess v. United States, 553 U.S. 124 (2008), is a United States Supreme Court case concerning the interpretation of the words "federal drug offense" in the Controlled Substances Act.Keith Lavon Burgess was convicted in a South Carolina state court for cocaine possession. The maximum sentence under state law was two years. The offense was punishable by more than one year, but South Carolina considered it a misdemeanor, not a felony. Burgess then pleaded guilty for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine in Federal Court. At his sentencing, the judge applied to Burgess the "prior conviction" statute, which required a minimum twenty-year sentence for anyone with a prior "felony drug conviction." In Burgess' appeal to the Court he maintained that since South Carolina considered his first offense a misdemeanor the "prior felony drug conviction" did not apply. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal, holding that "felony" refers to any offense that is punishable for more than a year even if another jurisdiction classifies the offense as a misdemeanor.. }
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- Burgess_v._United_States abstract "Burgess v. United States, 553 U.S. 124 (2008), is a United States Supreme Court case concerning the interpretation of the words "federal drug offense" in the Controlled Substances Act.Keith Lavon Burgess was convicted in a South Carolina state court for cocaine possession. The maximum sentence under state law was two years. The offense was punishable by more than one year, but South Carolina considered it a misdemeanor, not a felony. Burgess then pleaded guilty for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine in Federal Court. At his sentencing, the judge applied to Burgess the "prior conviction" statute, which required a minimum twenty-year sentence for anyone with a prior "felony drug conviction." In Burgess' appeal to the Court he maintained that since South Carolina considered his first offense a misdemeanor the "prior felony drug conviction" did not apply. The Supreme Court rejected his appeal, holding that "felony" refers to any offense that is punishable for more than a year even if another jurisdiction classifies the offense as a misdemeanor.".