Drug trafficking under 21 USC § 841; Proof that defendant knew the type or quantity of controlled substance involved in the offense; Effect of Rehaif v. United States on Sixth Circuit precedent; McFadden v. United States; United States v. Garcia; United States v. Dado; “Knowingly”; Dean v. United States; Criminal intent; United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc.

The court held that the recent Supreme Court decision in Rehaif did not abrogate its prior holdings that a drug-trafficking conviction under § 841 “does not require proof that the defendant knew the type or quantity of controlled substance involved in the offense.” The government recovered 40 pounds of marijuana from defendant-Mahaffey at the airport. Inside the marijuana was four pounds of meth. It was not established at trial whether he knew that the meth was inside the marijuana packaging. A jury convicted him of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute meth, possession with the intent to distribute meth, and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. He was sentenced to the mandatory minimum of 10 years. Without the meth, his statutory maximum sentence would have been no more than 5 years. Mahaffey argued that § 841 required the government to prove that he knew about the meth. But the court noted that courts “have consistently held that for drug-trafficking prosecutions under § 841, the government need not ‘prove mens rea as to the type and quantity of the drugs.’” The court rejected his argument that the recent Supreme Court decision in Rehaif changed this rule. It concluded that Rehaif considered the “knowing” requirement as it applied to unlawful aliens and firearm possession—a different area of the criminal code. But the court considered “whether Rehaif’s ‘legal reasoning is directly applicable to the issue at hand’ to ‘undercut’” its case precedent. It concluded that it did not, noting that case law “interpreting § 841 from the Supreme Court, our circuit, and our sister circuits confirms Congress did not intend a mens rea requirement for drug quantity and type.” Affirmed.