United States v. Batchelder
United States Supreme Court
442 U.S. 114 (1979)
Batchelder (defendant) was convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 922(h), which barred felons from receiving firearms shipped in interstate commerce and carried up to a specified maximum sentence under § 924(a), even though a separate, overlapping provision (§ 1202(a)) prohibiting the same underlying conduct carried only a two-year maximum; the district court imposed the five-year maximum under § 924(a) as specified for his actual conviction, but the appellate court held only the lighter § 1202(a) penalty could apply since both statutes covered identical conduct, and the government sought Supreme Court review.
Whether, where two criminal statutes with different maximum penalties bar the same conduct, and a defendant is convicted of violating one of them, a court is required to apply the sentencing provision of the statute carrying the lower penalty.