United States v. Kupa
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
976 F. Supp. 2d 417 (2013)
- Written by Angela Patrick, JD
Facts
Lulzim Kupa (defendant) was convicted of smuggling marijuana when he was 22 years old and again when he was 30 years old. Kupa also had other criminal activity on his record. At age 36, Kupa was arrested for trafficking five kilograms of cocaine. If convicted of this nonviolent offense, Kupa faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. The federal prosecutor (plaintiff) offered Kupa an approximately 10-year sentence if he would plead guilty. Kupa chose to go to trial instead. The prosecutors then filed a prior-felony information that formally presented Kupa’s two prior marijuana convictions to the court. This evidence of Kupa’s prior drug convictions increased Kupa’s mandatory minimum sentence for the cocaine-trafficking charge from 10 years to life in prison. Because Kupa now faced a minimum of life in prison if convicted, he waived his right to a trial and accepted the prosecutor’s revised offer of an 11-year sentence. The district court approved the plea agreement and issued a statement of reasons supporting the 11-year sentence.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Gleeson, J.)
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