Carmona Et Al. v. Ward, Correctional Commissioner, Et Al.

Background

Two women, Martha Carmona and Roberta Fowler, were sentenced under New York’s 1973 drug law to indeterminate terms with mandatory maximums of life: Carmona for possessing one ounce of a cocaine-containing substance (serving six years to life), Fowler for selling 0.00455 ounce for $20 (serving four years to life). Carmona petitioned for habeas relief; Fowler intervened. The District Court found the mandatory life maximums grossly disproportionate and ordered relief unless the State provided new maximums. A divided Second Circuit reversed, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Reasoning

The legal question was whether New York’s mandatory life maximums for these small drug offenses violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by being grossly disproportionate. The Supreme Court’s action was to deny review, so it did not resolve that constitutional question. Justice Marshall’s dissent argued the Court should have taken the case. He said proportionality requires comparing the crime, similar penalties in New York and other States, and parole uncertainty; he emphasized that these offenses receive harsher maximums than many violent crimes and that parole does not guarantee release.

Real world impact

Because the Court refused review, the Second Circuit’s decision stands and the two women remain subject to the mandatory life maximums. The ruling leaves intact New York’s severe sentencing scheme for comparable low-level cocaine offenses and leaves open the broader constitutional debate. This denial is not a final answer on the merits and future cases could produce a different result.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Marshall (joined by Justice Powell) dissented from the denial, urging review and arguing the sentences were constitutionally disproportionate.