Articles Tagged with “Armed Career Criminal Act”

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The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) is one of the harshest federal gun laws. If a defendant has three or more violent felonies or serious drug crimes, the penalty for being a felon-in-possesion of a firearm goes from a maximum of ten years’ incarceration to a mandatory minimum of fifteen years and a maximum of life. Camden Barlow entered a guilty plea to being a felon-in-possesion knowing that the government believed that he was an Armed Career Criminal. After he pled, however, he sought at sentencing to first undo his plea by arguing that none of his prior convictions qualified him as a felon under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). He alternatively argued that even if he were a felon-in-possesion, he did not have the requisite three prior convictions for violent felonies required by the ACCA. He lost in the district court on both arguments.

The two issues in the case were: (1) What is a felony? and (2) What is a violent felony?. As with many terms of art in federal sentencing, what seems like an easy question becomes complex when its answer requires delving into state sentencing procedures. For ease of application, federal sentencing law says that any crime, whether a state classifies it as a felony or a misdemeanor, is a federal felony if its maximum penalty is over one year in jail. Seems simple enough, but in practice it isn’t.

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It’s a catch-up blast of short wins today following my Spring Break.

My favorite of the bunch, continuing on our recent restitution cases, is United States v. Foley. There, the district court ordered restitution that was outside the offense of conviction. The First Circuit reversed. Go First Circuit!

To the victories!

you win.jpg1. United States v. Molina-Gomez, First Circuit: The district court erred by denying Appellant’s motion to suppress statements he made to United States Customs and Border Protection officers. The questioning occurred in a small, windowless room and Appellant was not given Miranda warnings prior to being questioned, which amounted to a violation of his Fifth Amendment rights. The case was remanded so Appellant could withdraw his plea and determine how he would like to proceed.

Defense Attorneys: Leonardo M. Aldridge-Kontos, Hector E. Guzman-Silva, Jr., Hector L. Ramos-Vega, and Lisa L. Rosado-Rodriguez
2. Perry v. Roy, First Circuit: Appellant, an inmate, brought a civil rights suit challenging the medical treatment he received after a violent scuffle with prison guards, which left him with a broken jaw. The trial court dismissed the case, holding that Appellant had not presented evidence that prison medical personnel deliberately denied him care. But the First Circuit concluded that the trial court had improperly weighed the evidence, which, when viewed in a light favorable to Appellant, could support a finding that the prison medical personnel were deliberately indifferent to Appellant’s condition.

Inmate’s Attorneys: Benjamin M. McGovern, Amanda O. Amendola

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And, after a really long break, we’re back. Apologies. This day job has been very busy lately.

And, of course, if you ever find yourself jonesing for my writing, you can always check out my stuff on Above the Law.

You saw our guest post on Hite last week – it’s a great case that bears a close read.

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There are two interesting opinions I’d like to highlight from this crop.

First, there’s United States v. Prado from the Seventh Circuit. Every now and again, in sentencing, a district court will say it can’t consider something. It seems to me that whatever that something is, these days, a district court can probably consider it. Prado is another example of that proposition.

More sensationally, check out the Ninth Circuit’s opinion in United States v. Maloney! Laura Duffy, the AUSA for the Southern District of California, watched the en banc argument in this case, decided the government’s position was wrong and asked the Ninth Circuit to vacate the conviction. Nice.

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It’s a grab bag of victories in the federal circuits for last week. A few sentencing remands – including one based on a loss calculation in a health care fraud case – but the most interesting remand is in the First Circuit’s opinion in United States v. Delgado-Marrero.

To the victories!

1155650_berlin_siegessule.jpg1. United States v. Delgado-Marrero, First Circuit: Delgado-Marrero and Rivera-Claudio were both convicted by a jury of drug and gun charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Delgado-Marrero was granted a new trial because the district court erred by excluding testimony of a defense witness. The First Circuit also found error with regard to Rivera-Claudio’s sentence because the district court failed to properly instruct the jury that in answering a post-verdict special question regarding quantity of drugs, they needed to be sure of the quantity beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Gentle readers,

The Courts of Appeal have been more diligent in issuing opinions than we’ve been in posting them. Apologies. As those of you who do trial work can understand, sometimes it’s really hard to do anything other than eat and sleep when there are witnesses to prepare for and arguments to make. Alas.

That said, wow, these are a bunch of cases that a scholar of sentencing and supervised release law would love. Enjoy!

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Due to my own sloth, we’re presenting two weeks of short wins in one post. Here it is!

There are some good cases here, featuring the Armed Career Criminal Act, the Fourth Amendment, and law enforcement agents testifying as experts.

In other news, the Sentencing Commission has put out two “quick fact” sheets. One is on “Theft Property Destruction and Fraud” and the other is on Mandatory Minimum Penalties.pdf. My favorite fun fact – the median loss in federal fraud cases is $95,408.

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As frequent readers of this blog know, the Armed Career Criminal Act gets a lot of appellate attention.

Simply put, if you’ve been previously convicted of a felony, and you’re found with a gun, that’s a federal crime. Normally, the most you can get for that crime is 10 years.

But, under the Armed Career Criminal Act, if you have three prior convictions for either a crime of violence or a drug distribution offense, then you face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years, and a maximum sentence of life.

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The Armed Career Criminal Act creates more absurd law than any part of the American legal system outside of the tax code.

The Sixth Circuit’s recent, and short, opinion in United States v. Oaks illustrates the point. It asks the question we’ve never needed answering before – is running out of a courtroom a violent act?

It turns out that it isn’t.

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The Fourth Circuit doesn’t issue many published opinions. When it does publish, though, it publishes a lot.

The Fourth Circuit yesterday issued an en banc opinion in United States v. Vann. Here’s the description of who wrote what:

A per curiam opinion, in which Chief Judge Traxler and Judges Motz, King, Gregory, Agee, Davis, Keenan, Wynn, and Diaz joined, was issued on behalf of the en banc majority. Judge King wrote a concurring opinion, in which Judges Motz, Gregory, and Davis joined. Judge Agee wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment, concurring in the en banc majority opinion, and concurring in the opinion of Judge Keenan. Judge Davis wrote a concurring opinion. Judge Keenan wrote a concurring opinion, in which Chief Judge Traxler and Judges Agee, Wynn, and Diaz joined. Judge Wilkinson wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment. Judge Niemeyer wrote an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Judge Shedd joined.

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