Shabazz v. United States

STEADMAN, Associate Judge:

Under the so-called “addict exception” to the District of Columbia’s mandatory-minimum drug sentencing statute, D.C.Code § 33-541(c)(2) (1988), a defendant may be eligible for a lesser sentence if, among other prerequisites, he or she “has not been previously convicted in any jurisdiction in the United States for knowingly or intentionally ... distributing ... a controlled substance....” The appeal before us presents the issue whether a Virginia conviction of distribution “as an accommodation” is a disqualifying conviction under this provision.1

On November 20, 1989,…