Lassend v. United States

898 F.3d 115
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedAugust 2, 2018
Docket17-1900P
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 898 F.3d 115 (Lassend v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lassend v. United States, 898 F.3d 115 (1st Cir. 2018).

Opinion

LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

Kirk Lassend appeals from the district court's denial of his § 2255 petition. United States v. Lassend , No. CR 10-40019, 2017 WL 2960518 (D. Mass. July 11, 2017), certificate of appealability granted , 265 F.Supp.3d 103 (D. Mass. 2017). He argues that his sentence as an armed career criminal under the Armed Career Criminal Act ("ACCA") is unconstitutional under Supreme Court precedent decided after his earlier appeal from his conviction was rejected in 2013.

We affirm the district court and find that the three prior convictions are ACCA predicates. We again hold that a Massachusetts conviction for assault with a deadly weapon is a predicate offense under the ACCA's force clause. As to Lassend's New York conviction for attempted second-degree assault, we conclude that a conviction under New York Penal Law § 120.05(7) qualifies as a violent felony under the ACCA's force clause. We reach the same conclusion as to Lassend's conviction for New York first-degree robbery under New York Penal Law § 160.15(4). Our analysis is consistent with that of many other circuits, and as to the New York first-degree robbery conviction, consistent with the views of the Second Circuit in Stuckey v. United States , 878 F.3d 62 (2d Cir. 2017), petition for cert. filed , No. 17-9369 (U.S. June 11, 2018). Lassend's sentence stands.

*119 I. Background

A. Lassend's Arrest and Conviction

In July 2010, two individuals in Fitchburg, Massachusetts called 911 to report that Lassend had been walking up and down the street with a gun and firing shots into the air. Police officers placed Lassend under arrest at the scene. The officers recovered ammunition from Lassend's pocket and found a gun in an unlocked closet in the common hallway of a nearby apartment building. A search of Lassend's residence uncovered a holster that appeared to fit that gun, and additional ammunition.

In September 2010, Lassend was indicted on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1) (Count One), and being a felon in possession of ammunition, also in violation of § 922(g)(1) (Count Two). After a five-day trial, the jury convicted Lassend of both counts in October 2011.

B. Original District Court Sentencing Proceedings

The Probation Office's 2012 presentence report ("PSR") determined that Lassend was subject to a sentencing enhancement under the ACCA because he had at least three prior convictions for a violent felony or a serious drug offense. The PSR identified four of his prior convictions as qualifying ACCA predicates: (1) a 1992 New York conviction for "Robbery in First Degree: Forcible Theft Armed with Deadly Weapon"; (2) a 1997 New York conviction for "Robbery in First Degree: Display What Appears to [Be a] Firearm"; (3) a 1998 New York conviction for "Assault in Second Degree"; and (4) a 2010 Massachusetts conviction for "Assault and Battery by Dangerous Weapon" ("ABDW") and "Assault by Dangerous Weapon" ("ADW").

The PSR determined that Lassend's Guidelines sentencing range ("GSR") was 235 to 293 months, with a mandatory minimum of 15 years under the ACCA. Lassend objected, inter alia, in the district court to the PSR's conclusion that he was subject to an ACCA enhancement, arguing that the residual clause of the ACCA was "unconstitutionally void for vagueness."

At sentencing, in March 2012, the district court overruled Lassend's objections to the PSR, including his objection to the PSR's determination that he was subject to an ACCA enhancement. Lassend stated that he had no other objections to the PSR "just as long as [his] objection to the [ACCA] on grounds that it's constitutionally void for vagueness [wa]s preserved." The district court then adopted the PSR's calculations and determined that Lassend's GSR was 235 to 293 months. After hearing from both parties, the district court sentenced Lassend to a term of imprisonment of 235 months on each count, to be served concurrently, followed by a five-year term of supervised release.

C. Direct Appeal

Lassend filed a direct appeal challenging his conviction. See United States v. Lassend , 545 F. App'x 3 (1st Cir. 2013) (per curiam). He did not appeal his sentence, nor argue that the residual clause of the ACCA was unconstitutional. See id. Lassend's conviction was affirmed in October 2013. See id. Lassend did not petition for certiorari.

D. Habeas Corpus Proceedings Before the District Court

The Supreme Court later decided Johnson v. United States (" Johnson II "), --- U.S. ----, 135 S.Ct. 2551 , 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), on June 26, 2015. On July 20, 2015, *120 Lassend filed a supplemental 1 pro se petition under § 2255, arguing that he should not have been sentenced under the ACCA in light of Johnson II . The government opposed his petition.

After the district court appointed counsel to represent Lassend in the § 2255 proceedings, Lassend filed another supplemental petition in which he argued that his sentence was unconstitutional because the government could not show that his criminal record contained violent felonies under the ACCA's force clause, 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e)(2)(B)(i). Consequently, he argued, his ACCA sentence must have been based on predicates that relied on the ACCA's residual clause, 18 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
898 F.3d 115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lassend-v-united-states-ca1-2018.