Herb Titus was quoted in a Bloomberg Bureau of National Affairs (“BNA”) Criminal Law Reporter article entitled “Aiding and Abetting Use of Firearm Requires Advance Knowledge of Gun.” The article involves the case Rosemond v. United States, in which our firm filed an amicus brief on August 9, 2013.
Herb was quoted as saying that “bare knowledge of the presence of a firearm is sufficient reason to impose an additional mandatory minimum consecutive sentence of five years…. The ruling has the effect of taking from the jury the key question of defendant’s guilt—his intent concerning the use of a firearm [and] upholds the power of prosecutors, not judges, to determine sentences given to thousands of defendants … Prosecutors will continue to have power de facto to impose mandatory minimum sentences — the very sort of sentences that Attorney General Eric Holder claims to oppose.”