The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether a Missouri marijuana conviction that was expunged and declared legally invalid under the state’s voter-approved legalization law can still be used to increase a person’s federal prison sentence.
John Merced Lozano filed a petition for a writ of certiorari on September 1, with the case formally docketed by the Supreme Court on September 3. The federal government’s response is due October 5.
The dispute stems from a 2000 Missouri conviction for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. When Lozano was sentenced for separate federal offenses in 2006, that conviction and a prior arson conviction resulted in him being classified as a career offender under federal sentencing guidelines.
That designation increased his recommended sentencing range from 181 to 211 months to 322 to 387 months. Lozano ultimately received a 322-month sentence.
Missouri voters approved recreational marijuana legalization in November 2022. The constitutional amendment also required qualifying nonviolent marijuana convictions to be expunged, with affected convictions and sentences vacated as legally invalid and individuals treated as though the arrest, conviction or sentence had never occurred.
A Missouri court subsequently expunged and vacated Lozano’s marijuana conviction in August 2023. Lozano then sought resentencing in federal court, arguing that without the marijuana conviction he no longer qualified as a career offender.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rejected that argument in March. The court concluded that although Missouri had vacated the conviction, it did so as part of a policy intended to provide relief from prior marijuana offenses rather than because Lozano was innocent or because there had been a legal error in his original prosecution. Under existing Eighth Circuit precedent, the conviction therefore remained countable for federal sentencing purposes.
Lozano’s Supreme Court petition argues that the ruling conflicts with decisions from the Second and Ninth circuits, which focus more heavily on what a state legally did to a conviction rather than why it did so. Under that approach, his attorneys argue, Missouri’s complete elimination of the conviction would qualify as an expungement under federal sentencing guidelines.
The petition asks the Supreme Court to decide whether a state conviction that has been vacated as legally invalid should be considered “expunged” under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines. It also raises a broader question concerning how much deference federal courts should give to commentary accompanying those guidelines.
The Supreme Court has not agreed to hear the case. If it does, the eventual ruling could have implications beyond Lozano, particularly as more states legalize marijuana and provide retroactive expungement or other relief for past marijuana convictions.
