Pulsifer v. United States

Mark Pulsifer (defendant) pled guilty to drug charges. Under federal law, these charges had a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. However, under the federal First Step Act (the act), a defendant could avoid a mandatory minimum sentence if the defendant satisfied the five safety-valve requirements. These five requirements addressed: the defendant’s criminal history, whether the defendant cooperated with the government, whether the defendant used violence, the crime’s impact, and whether the defendant was a ringleader. The act stated that the criminal-history requirement was satisfied if: “the defendant does not have—(A) more than 4 criminal history points …; (B) a prior 3-point offense …; and (C) a prior 2-point violent offense …” Pulsifer had two three-point criminal offenses on his record, for a total of six criminal-history points. Pulsifer argued that he satisfied the act’s criminal-history requirement because he did not have the third history option, a two-point violent offense. The government (plaintiff) argued that the criminal-history requirements was satisfied only if the defendant did not have any of the three history options, and Pulsifer did have the first two histories. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit sided with the government. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.