§2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal year 2019, 17 of the 25 people sentenced under guideline §2E4.1 (68%) received probation only, and 5 (20%) received a prison term. The median prison term among those 5 was 2 months. All 25 pleaded guilty.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes an › §2E4.1: FY2019
In brief: In fiscal year 2019, 17 of the 25 people sentenced under guideline §2E4.1 (68%) received probation only, and 5 (20%) received a prison term. The median prison term among those 5 was 2 months. All 25 pleaded guilty.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 25 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.
Probation Was the Most Common Sentence
The U.S. Sentencing Commission recorded 25 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 with §2E4.1 as the primary guideline. For 17 of them (68%), the sentence was probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
5 people (20%) were sentenced to prison. Across all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline, 48% were sent to prison, so the 2019 share was lower.
The Guidelines Manual titles §2E4.1 "Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco." The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019.
Short Prison Terms for the 5 Sent to Prison
The median prison term among the 5 was 2 months. A quarter received 12 months or more, and a quarter received 0 months or less.
The all-years median for this guideline is 12 months, so the 2019 median was lower. With only 5 people, a few cases can move the median a great deal.
5 people (20%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, and the median term was 36 months. No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 25.
Pleas
25 of 25 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. Among the guilty pleas, 96% had a written plea agreement and 4% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Because the group had no trial cases, the data cannot compare plea and trial sentences.
Sentences Compared With the Range
The guideline range is the range the Manual calculates for a case. 9 of the 25 sentences (36%) were within the range. 8 (32%) were below it at the government's request, and 8 (32%) were below it without a government request. 0 were above the range.
The 36% within the range was higher than the 25% for all years under this guideline. For all federal cases in fiscal year 2019, it was 51%.
Restitution and Fines
Restitution, which is payment ordered to make up for a loss, was ordered for 18 people (72%). A fine was ordered for 4 (16%).
In criminal history, 80% were in the lowest category I, and 0% were in the highest category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Neighboring Years and the Full Table
In fiscal year 2018, 45 people were sentenced under §2E4.1, the median prison term was 13.5 months, and 42% were within the range. In fiscal year 2020, 28 people were sentenced, the median was 6 months, and 7% were within the range.
The Commission places these cases in the "Extortion/Racketeering" offense type. Everyone sentenced in federal court in 2019, under every guideline, totals 76,538 people, with a median prison term of 21 months. The all-years count for §2E4.1 is 224 people. The table lists every year.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 28 | 8 months | 96% |
| 2017 | 29 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2018 | 45 | 13.5 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 25 | 2 months | 100% |
| 2020 | 28 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2021 | 21 | 24 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 12 | 0.3 months | 92% |
| 2023 | 11 | 31 months | 100% |
| 2024 | 22 | 6 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 months | 3 of 3 |
Limits on the Records
The records do not show the conduct behind each case or the reason probation was used so often in this year. Acquittals and dismissals are not counted, and prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
One year of 25 people is not a trend. The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so only federal numbers appear.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2E4.1 (25), 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)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2E4.1 Unlawful Conduct Relating to Contraband Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.