United States v. Jackson
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
835 F.2d 1195 (1987)
Dwight Jackson (defendant), a career criminal with four prior armed bank robbery convictions and one armed robbery conviction, robbed a bank just thirty minutes after being released from prison on a work-release program. Under a federal statute mandating at least fifteen years' imprisonment for anyone with three prior robbery felonies found in possession of a firearm, the sentencing court imposed life imprisonment without parole. Jackson appealed, arguing the statute did not authorize a life sentence.
Whether a federal career-offender firearms statute authorizing at least fifteen years' imprisonment permits a sentencing court to impose life imprisonment without parole, and whether such a sentence is subject to appellate review as excessive.