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Volokh Conspiracy

Tony Montana + Montana Sup. Ct.: "Don't get high on your own supply, 'cause double jeopardy don't apply"

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To be sure, Tony Montana (Scarface) was not the author of the first half of this instruction, but rather the one to whom it was directed:

The Montana Supreme Court is the source of the second half, from Tuesday's State v. Glass:

[The question in this case is,] Whether the District Court erred by ruling that Glass's federal conviction for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine did not bar a subsequent state prosecution for possession of dangerous drugs on double jeopardy grounds.

Montana's double jeopardy statute bars a State prosecution if that prosecution is based on an offense arising out of the same transaction as a federal conviction or acquittal. The term "'same transaction' means a series of acts or omissions that are motivated by . . . a purpose to accomplish a criminal objective and that are necessary or incidental to the accomplishment of that objective." . . . Whether two offenses arise from the same transaction or involve the same criminal objective does not depend on the elements of the charged offenses, but rather on the defendant's underlying conduct and purpose in engaging in that conduct. . . .

[T]he record supports the conclusion that Glass had two distinct criminal objectives for possessing methamphetamine: (1) distributing the bulk of the methamphetamine he imported in violation of § 45-9-103(1), MCA; and (2) retaining possession of a lesser quantity for his own purposes in violation of § 45-9-102(1), MCA. . . . Glass's possession of methamphetamine for his personal use, as evidenced by the residue in his pipe, is a distinct and separate prosecutable offense. . . .

"Don't get high on your own supply" [citing The Wire, Notorious B.I.G., N.W.A., and Scarface] is a long-established rule of the drug trade specifically because such conduct is inconsistent with the criminal objective of distributing drugs for profit. To that rule, we now add the legal caveat: "Don't get high on your own supply, 'cause double jeopardy don't apply."

And, no, (1) the court doesn't take the opportunity to cite any cases written by the Notorious R.B.G. to go with the Notorious B.I.G., and (2) Notorious B.I.G. and N.W.A. were not MCA artists. Rats.