Law360: Justices Poised To Expand Repeat Offenders’ Jury Trial Rights

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Erlinger v. U.S., a case where Paul Erlinger is appealing his 15-year sentence after being convicted of being a felon in possession of multiple firearms. Jeffrey L. Fisher, counsel to Erlinger, said that the different-occasions issue in the case is subject to the 2000 decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey. “Our position in this case is [that] what the court has already said in Mathis and Descamps makes perfectly clear that the occasions clause falls outside of Almendarez-Torres,” Fisher said. Erlinger is represented by Fisher, Heather Welles, Louis W. Fisher, Adam F. Phillips, Victoria L. Randall, and Rachel Chung of O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

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