After being convicted of federal gun crimes, a musician’s violent song lyrics could not be used against him because they were not sufficiently tied to his crime or other sentencing factors
United States v. Alvarez-Nunez, 2016 BL 219988, 1st Cir., No. 15-2127, 7/8/16.
The First Circuit held that that the First Amendment prevented a court from using a musician’s lyrics during his sentencing hearing for gun crimes. While song lyrics can be contemplated during sentencing as extrinsic evidence, they must be directly tied to the motive or state of mind of the offender. The court elaborated, saying conduct that “has no bearing on either the crime committed or on any of the relevant sentencing factors, consideration of that conduct infringes a defendant’s First Amendment rights.” While examining the song lyrics in relation to the case, the court noted that there was little evidence that connected the song lyrics to the crime.
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