Torri McCray was charged under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B)(vi) for distributing 10 grams or more of “butyryl fentanyl,” an analogue of fentanyl under the ordinary meaning of the term “analogue.” As Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary puts it, an “analogue” in the relevant chemistry context is “a chemical compound structurally similar to another but differing often by a single element of the same valence and group of the periodic table as the element it replaces.”
Everyone, including McCray, agrees that butyryl fentanyl is an analogue of fentanyl under this definition. And if this definition governed for purposes of § 841(b)(1)(B)(vi), then McCray would be subject to a 5-year mandatory minimum: Such a sentence is required when the defendant distributes “10 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of any analogue of” fentanyl.
But McCray disagrees that the ordinary definition of “analogue” applies to § 841(b)(1)(B)(vi). He …