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Criminal Law-Conspiracy to Distribute Drugs-Mandatory Minimum Sentence-Eighth Amendment Violation
Staff Report//January 29, 2026//
Defendant appealed the sentence imposed following his guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. The district court imposed the mandatory minimum sentence after defendant chose not to make a safety valve proffer. On appeal, defendant argued that the mandatory minimum sentence as applied to him violated the Eighth Amendment.
Where defendant’s mandatory minimum sentence was not disproportionate to the severity of his crime, which involved distributing significant amounts of dangerous drugs, and where defendant chose to forego safety valve relief by refusing to cooperate with the government, his Eighth Amendment challenge to his sentence failed.
Judgment is affirmed.
U.S. v. Domena (MLW No. 84274/Case No. 25-1657 – 7 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Shepherd, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, Bryan, J. (Jordan S. Kushner, CJA, of Minneapolis, MN for appellant) (Timothy Campbell Warner, AUSA, of Minneapolis, MN for appellee)
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