§2D1.11 Unlawfully Distributing, Importing, Exporting or Possessing a Listed Chemical: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, none of the 27 people sentenced under §2D1.11 received a sentence within the guideline range: 6 (22%) were below it at the government's request and 21 (78%) were below it without a request. The median prison term was 24 months, and 26 people (96%) were sent to prison.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2D1.11 Unlawfully Distributing, Importing, Exporting or Pos › §2D1.11: FY2019
In brief: In fiscal year 2019, none of the 27 people sentenced under §2D1.11 received a sentence within the guideline range: 6 (22%) were below it at the government's request and 21 (78%) were below it without a request. The median prison term was 24 months, and 26 people (96%) were sent to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 27 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
No Sentences Within the Guideline Range
In fiscal year 2019, 0 of 27 sentences under §2D1.11 were within the guideline range, and 0 were above it. 6 people (22%) were below the range at the government's request, and 21 (78%) were below it without a request.
The year before, 12% were within the range. Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, the share was 18%. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, it was 51%.
Prison and Probation
Of the 27 people, 26 (96%) received a prison term, and 1 (4%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
The median prison term was 24 months, or 2 years. A quarter received 30 months or more, and a quarter received 1.9 months or less. In fiscal year 2018, the median was 30 months. For all years from 2016 to 2025 under the guideline, it was 36 months, and the all-guidelines median for 2019 was 21 months.
Plea Agreements Were Less Common
All 27 people pleaded guilty, and none was convicted after a trial. Of the guilty pleas, 56% had a written plea agreement, and 44% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The records do not say why so many pleas had no written agreement. A written plea agreement is a signed agreement between the defendant and the government, and a straight plea is a guilty plea without one. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 27 people.
What the Guideline Covers
The Guidelines Manual titles §2D1.11 "Unlawfully Distributing, Importing, Exporting or Possessing a Listed Chemical; Attempt or Conspiracy." The Commission files these cases in its Other offense type. The 27 people were sentenced between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019, a period in which 76,538 people were sentenced under all guidelines.
Release, Payments, and Criminal History
Supervised release was ordered for 26 people (96%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 2 (7%), and restitution for 0 (0%).
In this group, 33% were in the lowest criminal history category I, and 7% were in the highest (category VI). Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
A Falling Count
The table shows 43 people in fiscal year 2018 and 27 in 2019. After 2019, it lists 5 or fewer people a year. Across all years, 180 people were sentenced under this guideline, 95% went to prison, and 99% pleaded guilty.
The records do not give a reason for the changes in count. They include only people convicted and sentenced, and prison terms are those imposed, not served. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports federal numbers on their own.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 76 | 41 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 22 | 46 months | 95% |
| 2018 | 43 | 30 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 27 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 5 | 0 months | 4 of 5 |
| 2021 | 2 | 44 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2022 | 1 | 24 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2023 | 2 | 54.3 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2024 | 1 | 24 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 51 months | 1 of 1 |
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2D1.11 (27), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2D1.11 Unlawfully Distributing, Importing, Exporting or Possessing a Listed Chemical: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2D1.11 Unlawfully Distributing, Importing, Exporting or Possessing a Listed Chemical: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.