Background

• Defendant Timothy Grayson pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; he reserved the right to appeal a sentencing enhancement.
• The district court applied a § 802(44) “prior felony drug offense” enhancement based on Grayson’s 2004 Michigan conviction for “maintaining a drug house” (Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.7405(1)(d)).
• Michigan’s statute requires knowledge that a structure was used for keeping or selling drugs, some control over the structure, and that the defendant maintained it; the offense carries up to two years’ imprisonment.
• Grayson argued the Michigan conviction did not qualify under 21 U.S.C. § 802(44) because that provision, he said, requires a prior conviction involving possession or distribution (not merely maintaining premises used for drugs).
• The sentencing enhancement doubled Grayson’s five-year mandatory minimum for the federal offense, producing the contested sentence.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Burgess v. United States, 553 U.S. 124 (Congress used punishment-based definition to avoid state classification disparities)
• Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U.S. 374 ("relating to" is broad in ordinary meaning)
• United States v. Gardner, 649 F.3d 437 (6th Cir.) (distinguishing enhancements that require specific elements not present in prior conviction)
• United States v. Brown, 598 F.3d 1013 (8th Cir.) (prior-conviction cases involving simulated drugs are inapposite here)
• People v. Bartlett, 585 N.W.2d 341 (Mich. Ct. App. 1998) (explaining elements of Michigan "maintaining a drug house" offense)