In U.S. v. Evans, No. 05-14498 (Feb. 16, 2007), the Court affirmed in part and reversed in part a sentence imposed on a defendant who, while a state inmate serving a 100-year sentence, committed an anthrax hoax by mailing a letter with a harmless powder substance to the Pensacola federal courthouse.
The Court found no plain error in the acceptance of a guilty plea for violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2332a and 876(c), which criminalize threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, and threatening to injury by mail. Evans claimed that these statute involved only threats of a future act, as opposed to an immediate threat. The Court sided with three Circuits to have considered this issue, and held that the statutes did not required threats of a future act. For this reason, the guilty plea was valid.
The Court agreed with Evans, however, that his anthrax hoax did not qualify as a "serious violent felony" for purposes of triggering the mandatory life sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 35599c)(2)(F). The government claimed that the arterial blood draws which medical personnel may perform on potentially exposed persons, as well as the physical force used in evacuating a building both provided the element of physical force necessary for a serious violent felony. The Court rejected this argument as over-broad, transforming virtually any crime into a serious violent felony, as there always some risk that police will use force during arrest. Moreover, the new statute criminalizing anthrax hoaxes establishes a maximum 5 year punishment, below the 10-year threshold for "serious violent felonies" – further confirming that this crime should not qualify.
