| Litigants: | Keith Lavon Burges v United States |
| Arguedate: | March 24 |
| Argueyear: | 2008 |
| Decidedate: | April 16 |
| Decideyear: | 2008 |
| Fullname: | Burgess v United States |
| Usvol: | 553 |
| Uspage: | 124 |
| Parallelcitations: | 128 S.Ct. 1572; 170 L. Ed. 2d 478; 2008 U.S. LEXIS 3475 |
| Prior: | Appeals court affirmed conviction, 478 F.3d 658 (4th Cir. 2007). |
| Holding: | States classification of a drug offense as misdemeanor, that was punishable by more than 1 year in jail was classified as a felony drug offense under federal law. |
| Majority: | Ginsburg |
| Joinmajority: | unanimous |
| Lawsapplied: | 21 U.S.C. 841 |
Burgess v. United States, 553 U.S. 124 (2008), was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the interpretation of the words "federal drug offense" in the Controlled Substances Act.[1]
Keith Lavon Burgess was convicted in a South Carolina state court for cocaine possession.[2] Although the maximum sentence under state law was two years, South Carolina classified the offense as a misdemeanor, rather than a felony.[3] At a later proceeding, Burgess pleaded guilty for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine in Federal Court.[4] At his sentencing, the judge applied to Burgess the "prior conviction" statute, which required a minimum twenty-year sentence for anyone with a prior "felony drug conviction."[5] In Burgess' appeal to the Court he maintained that since South Carolina considered his first offense a misdemeanor, the "prior felony drug conviction" did not apply.[6]
In a unanimous opinion written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court rejected Burgess' appeal, holding that "felony" refers to any offense that is punishable for more than a year even if another jurisdiction classifies the offense as a misdemeanor.[7]