Burrage v. United States

Background

A federal prosecutor charged a man who sold heroin with an offense that carries a 20-year mandatory minimum if the buyer’s death "results from" the drug. The buyer, Joshua Banka, was a long-time drug user who died after taking multiple drugs following the seller’s heroin sale. Two medical experts said heroin contributed to his death but could not say he would have died without the heroin. A jury convicted the seller and he was sentenced to the 20-year mandatory term.

Reasoning

The Court addressed whether the phrase "results from" requires that the drug be a but-for cause (meaning the death would not have occurred without it) or whether a mere contributing role suffices. The majority concluded that ordinary meaning and prior decisions require but-for causation. The Government argued mixed-drug overdoses often involve multiple contributors and urged a looser contributing-factor test, but the Court rejected that approach and relied on the rule of lenity to interpret the criminal statute in the defendant’s favor. Because experts could not establish that the heroin was a but-for cause, the enhancement could not apply.

Real world impact

Going forward, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant’s supplied drug was the but-for cause of death to trigger the 20-year enhancement in mixed-drug cases. Defendants still face ordinary distribution penalties when the enhancement cannot be proved. Lower courts must apply this but-for causation rule when reviewing similar cases.

Dissents or concurrances

One Justice joined the judgment but wrote separately, agreeing that lenity required the outcome while disagreeing with some of the majority’s broader comments about causation.