Jury Acquits; Judge sentences anyway

The United States Surpreme Court denied a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, letting stand sentences of fifteen, sixteen, and nineteen years respectively imposed on three defendants convicted of distributing "very small amounts of crack cocaine". The sentencing Guidelines would have provided for sentences between two and five years, except that the trial judge found that the defendants had also committed the crime of "conspiracy to distribute drugs." He therefore calculated much higher sentencing Guidelines. Not only had the defendants not been convicted of conspiracy, they had actually been acquitted of it by the jury. Justice Scalia wrote a dissent, joined by Justice Thomas and Justice Ginsburg.