Supreme Court of the United States
Dean v. United States
April 29, 2009556 U.S. 568
Summary
The Court held that the firearm-discharge enhancement in 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(iii) applies whenever a firearm is discharged during the relevant violent or drug-trafficking crime, even if the discharge is accidental. The statutory text, passive voice, structure, and placement of the relevant adverbial phrases do not require proof of intentional discharge, and neither the mens rea presumption nor the rule of lenity changes that conclusion. Justice Stevens and Justice Breyer, dissenting, would have required intentional discharge, relying on the statute's escalating penalties, mens rea principles, and lenity.