Case Summaries: Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (September 2020)

This post summarizes published criminal and related decisions from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decided in September, 2020. Reimposition of juvenile LWOP sentence unanimously affirmed U.S. v. McCain, 974 F.3d 506 (Sept. 10, 2020). In this South Carolina case, the district court’s reimposition of a life sentence without parole (“LWOP”) for a juvenile offender was unanimously affirmed. The defendant was 17 years old and dealing heroin with another man in 2008. Suspecting that two buyers were acting as police informants, the defendant and his companion arranged a transaction with them, where the defendant repeatedly shot both men. After noticing one of the men was still alive, the defendant left to search for more bullets and ultimately tried to return to the scene with a knife. Police had already arrived on scene by the time the defendant tried to return, and the defendant was apprehended shortly thereafter. One of the victims died; the other survived with “permanent and disabling injuries.” The defendant was prosecuted as an adult and pled guilty to witness intimidation by murder and witness intimidation by attempted murder, as well as offenses relating to his use of a firearm. At the time of the original sentencing, the defendant had an extensive juvenile record, including attempted robbery, attempted burglary, assaults, and other offenses. While awaiting sentencing, the defendant sent threatening letters to the surviving victim, his codefendant, and witnesses in the case. Because of these acts, the defendant lost an opportunity to receive a sentence other than the mandatory [...]