The law was deemed unconstitutionally vague.
If you have been charged with a crime, you should generally understand what you have been charged for — and why. Yet with some laws, it can be hard to decipher the exact parameters of the offense, or even when a person can be charged. A criminal defense lawyer Orange County, CA may challenge those laws for being vague, because if a person can’t understand what the law is, he or she cannot comply with it. A recent United States Supreme Court ruling on a law regarding prison sentences for firearms offenders highlights how a vague law may be invalidated.
The heart of United States v. Davis is a federal statute that allows prosecutors to seek a longer prison sentence for certain people convicted of gun offenses. Whenever a defendant used a gun in a “crime of violence,” this federal law applied. A “crime of violence” is defined as any offense that “by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.” The defendant in the underlying case challenged the statute for being unconstitutionally vague.
Mr. Davis was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, and received a heightened sentence because federal prosecutors deemed it a crime of violence. Because of this designation, he could be sentenced for up to 25 more years.
The problem with the stature is that it does not revolve around whether the offense itself involved violence. Instead, it asks whether a crime of that nature involves a substantial risk of physical force. This requires speculating, and as a result, the Supreme Court found that the law was impermissibly vague.
When a law is vague, it generally must be struck down because it does not give citizens notice of the type of conduct that it might prohibit. If people have to speculate about what crimes of violence are, then they cannot know what type of offense may subject them to an increase sentence under this federal firearms law. According to a seasoned criminal defense lawyer Orange County, CA, that is why the law had to be struck down under the Supreme Court ruling.
One of the most important aspects of the Court’s holdings in the Davis case involves a principle that courts must generally try to construct statutes to avoid striking them down for being vague. In this case, the Supreme Court formulated a new rule. When working to avoid striking down a criminal law for vagueness, courts can only narrow a criminal law, but they cannot expand it. This part of the ruling could have a significant impact on the criminal justice system.
At the Chambers Law Firm, we examine every aspect of our clients’ cases to determine the best way to defend them. In some cases, that may even mean challenging the constitutionality of the law itself. We work with our clients to examine the facts of each case to come up with a strong defense. To learn more or to schedule a consultation with a criminal defense lawyer Orange County, CA, contact our office today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com.
