United States v. George Jefferson

I concur in Judge Wardlaw’s careful opinion, which faithfully applies our circuit’s law regarding the mens rea required to sentence a defendant convicted of illegally importing drugs. But I do so only because we are bound by United States v. Carranza, 289 F.3d 634 (9th Cir.2002). Under the rule of Carranza and its predecessors, a defendant who reasonably believes that he is importing a relatively small quantity of marijuana into the country must be sentenced to the ten-year mandatory minimum prison term that applies to a defendant who knowingly imports the same quantity of methamphetamine. I…