United States v. Sepúlveda-Hernández

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

The appeals in this criminal case raise two questions of first impression in this circuit. The first asks whether the statute doubling the maximum available penalty for drug distribution in close proximity to a youth center, see 21 U.S.C. § 860(a), creates an independent substantive offense or, instead, operates merely as a sentence-enhancing factor. We conclude that this statute does create an independent offense. We also conclude, however, that the evidence offered at trial was insufficient to support convictions for that offense.

This tees up the second novel question,…