Page:Lora v. United States.pdf/3

Rh

delivered the opinion of the Court.

When a federal court imposes multiple prison sentences, it can typically choose whether to run the sentences concurrently or consecutively. See 18 U. S. C. §3584. An exception exists in subsection (c) of §924, which provides that “no term of imprisonment imposed on a person under this subsection shall run concurrently with any other term of imprisonment.” §924(c)(1)(D)(ii).

In this case, we consider whether §924(c)’s bar on concurrent sentences extends to a sentence imposed under a different subsection: §924(j). We hold that it does not. A sentence for a §924(j) conviction therefore can run either concurrently with or consecutively to another sentence.

In 2002, members of a drug-dealing group from the Bronx assassinated a rival drug dealer. The Government accused petitioner Efrain Lora of being one of the group’s leaders and acting as a scout during the fatal shooting. After a jury trial, Lora was convicted of aiding and abetting a violation of §924(j)(1), which penalizes “[a] person who, in the course of a violation of subsection (c), causes the death of a person