Background
Cedric Douglas Canzater pleaded guilty to two counts involving possession with intent to distribute and distribution of fentanyl and four counts involving possession with intent to distribute and distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
The district court determined that Canzater’s 2008 drug conviction qualified as a “serious drug felony” under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A), raising the applicable mandatory minimum from 10 years to 15 years. It imposed a 180-month sentence.
Canzater appealed, arguing that the government had not shown that his release from imprisonment for the 2008 drug conviction occurred within 15 years before the current offense began. He characterized the drug conviction as a “last minute add on” whose sentence was fully subsumed by a concurrent sentence for a firearm conviction.
The Court’s Holding
The Fourth Circuit affirmed. Reviewing the issue de novo, the court held that Canzater’s 2008 drug conviction qualified as a serious drug felony because he served more than 12 months for that offense and was released from its term of imprisonment within 15 years of the commencement of the current offense.
Canzater received separate 84-month sentences for the drug and firearm convictions on the same day in November 2008, with the sentences running concurrently. Relying on United States v. Skaggs, the court explained that concurrent sentences remain separate and distinct terms of imprisonment even when served simultaneously.
Because Canzater served each concurrent sentence and was released from both on May 3, 2013, that date constituted his release from imprisonment for the drug conviction. The release fell within 15 years of the current offense’s commencement in February 2023, making the enhanced 15-year mandatory minimum applicable.
Key Takeaways
- Concurrent sentences remain separate terms of imprisonment even though they are served simultaneously.
- A defendant released from concurrent sentences is released from each separate term on the same date.
- Canzater’s May 2013 release was within 15 years of the February 2023 commencement of his current offense, so his prior drug conviction triggered the enhanced mandatory minimum.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that a defendant cannot avoid a serious-drug-felony enhancement merely because the qualifying drug sentence ran concurrently with another sentence. Each concurrent sentence counts as a distinct term of imprisonment for determining whether the statutory requirements are satisfied.
Although unpublished and nonprecedential, the opinion applies the Fourth Circuit’s existing approach in Skaggs to the 15-year release requirement under 21 U.S.C. § 802(58).