District judge finds Eighth Amendment problem with stacked mandatories for juve gun offender

Thanks to this post at the Southern District of Florida Blog (which always has lots of interesting coverage of federal law and sentencing), I have learned of this important Eighth Amendment ruling based on Graham and the application of federal gun mandatories.  Here are key excerpts from Judge Cook's opinion in US v. Mathurin:

Here, Mathurin faces a mandatory minimum 307-year sentence.  Because Congress hasabolished the federal parole system, this sentence gives Mathurin no possibility of release basedon demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.  A significant portion of this sentence is comprisedof mandatory 25-year consecutive sentences required under § 924(c)(1)(D)(ii), which provides:

[N]o term of imprisonment imposed on a person under this subsection shall runconcurrently with any other term of imprisonment imposed on the person,including any term of imprisonment imposed for the crime of violence or drugtrafficking crime during which the firearm was used, carried, or possessed.

Under Graham, this provision of § 924(c)(1)(D) is unconstitutional as applied to Mathurin, a juvenile offender convicted of non-homicide offenses.  To apply the statute in accordance withthe Eighth Amendment, severance of the constitutionally offensive portion of § 924(c)(1)(D) is necessary....

[C]onsistent with Congress’s intent and with Supreme Court precedent on thedoctrine of severability, I find that the language of § 924(c)(1)(D)(ii) mandating consecutive sentences for subsequent violations is excisable from the remainder of the statute as it applies to Mathurin and similarly situated juvenile defendants.  This holding is limited to the unique circumstances of this case, which involves a non-homicide juvenile offender sentenced under § 924(c)(1) for multiple counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime; it does not affect the consecutive sentence requirement as applied to adult offenders or juvenile offenders under different factual circumstances....

Under this narrow holding of this case, Mathurin’s sentence amounts to 492 months in prison.  Additionally, under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), Mathurin may reduce his sentence by 54 days per year of incarceration if he “display[s] exemplary compliance with institutional disciplinaryregulations.”  Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), Mathurin may reduce his total sentence byapproximately 5.5 years.  Thus, if Mathurin demonstrates maturity and rehabilitation, he may beeligible for release at around the age of 53.

Mathurin’s total term of incarceration, consideringthe potential reductions under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b), complies with both the Eighth Amendmentand Congress’s statutory requirements.