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Appellate Advocacy Keyed to Meador, 2nd Ed.
Minnesota v. Russell
Citation:
477 N.W.2d 886 (1991)Facts
In 1989, Minnesota enacted legislation that treated possession of three grams of crack cocaine as equivalent to possession of ten grams of cocaine powder for criminal sentencing purposes. Under this law, possession of three grams of crack cocaine was classified as a third-degree offense carrying up to 20 years imprisonment with a presumptive executed sentence of 48 months. By contrast, possession of the same amount of powder cocaine was a fifth-degree offense carrying up to five years imprisonment with a presumptive stayed sentence of 12 months. Statistical evidence presented to the trial court showed that 96.6% of persons charged with possession of crack cocaine were Black, while 79.6% of persons charged with possession of powder cocaine were white. The defendants, five African-American men charged with possession of crack cocaine, challenged the constitutionality of the statute, arguing it had a discriminatory impact and violated equal protection guarantees.
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