United States v. Lewis

EVANS, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Valerian Lewis on a charge of attempting to possess, with intent to distribute, over 500 grams of cocaine. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B), 846. The jury also returned a special verdict finding that the attempt to possess involved over five kilograms of cocaine. Because this was Lewis’s second felony drug conviction, the drug quantity finding triggered the imposition of a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years.

Prior to trial, the government neglected to file an information pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851, which would have given Lewis notice of its…