United States v. Anthony Bernard Williams

700 F. App'x 895
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJune 23, 2017
Docket16-16403 Non-Argument Calendar
StatusUnpublished

This text of 700 F. App'x 895 (United States v. Anthony Bernard Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Anthony Bernard Williams, 700 F. App'x 895 (11th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Anthony Bernard Williams appeals his 180-month sentence imposed on the basis of his armed-career-criminal status after his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). On appeal, Williams argues that the district court erred jn applying 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”) to his sentence. That provision imposes a statutory minimum sentence of fifteen years. Williams contends that it does not apply to him because his underlying convictions for Florida robbery, aggravated assault, and sale of cocaine do not qualify as predicate offenses under the ACCA.

Under the ACCA, a defendant convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, who has three or more prior convictions for a “violent felony” or “serious drug offense,” faces a mandatory minimum fifteen-year sentence. See 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). We review de novo whether a prior conviction is a violent felony or a serious drug offense within the meaning of the ACCA. United States v. White, 837 F.3d 1225, 1228 (11th Cir. 2016); United States v. Howard, 742 F.3d 1334, 1341 (11th Cir. 2014).

The ACCA defines a “violent felony” as any crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year that

(i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another; or
(ü) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another,

Id. § 924(e)(2)(B). The first prong of this definition is referred to as the “elements clause,” while the second prong contains the “enumerated-crimes” clause and what is commonly called the “residual clause.” United States v. Owens, 672 F.3d 966, 968 (11th Cir. 2012).

In Johnson v. United States, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 2557, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), the Supreme Court struck down the ACCA’s residual clause as unconstitutionally vague. So as far as the definition of “violent felony” goes, that left available only the ACCA’s elements and enumerated-offense clauses. Id. at 2563. With re *897 spect to the prior convictions that the district court concluded qualified as “violent felon[ies]” in enhancing Williams’s sentence under the ACCA, this case involves only the elements clause.

As for the definition of a “serious drug offense” under the ACCA, that is “an offense under State law, involving manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture or distribute, a controlled substance,” that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more. 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(A)(ii).

In deciding whether a prior conviction qualifies as a violent felony or a serious drug offense, we typically apply a categorical approach. As relevant here, the categorical approach requires us to look at only the fact of conviction and the prior offense’s statutory definition and evaluate whether any element of the statutory crime satisfies the elements clause of the “violent felony” definition or whether the crime meets the definition of a “serious drug offense” under the ACCA. See United States v. Aguilar-Ortiz, 450 F.3d 1271, 1273 (11th Cir. 2006).

But when the law under which a defendant was convicted contains alternative elements, some of which would render the offense a qualifying offense and some of which would not, we apply a modified categorical approach. Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133, 144, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010). We describe such a statute as “divisible.” See United States v. Estrella, 758 F.3d 1239, 1245-46 (11th Cir. 2014). Under the modified categorical approach, the district court determines which alternative element served as the basis for conviction by consulting a narrow universe of documents, including any charging documents, the plea agreement, the plea colloquy, and any explicit factual finding by the trial judge to which the defendant assented. United States v. Palomino Garcia, 606 F.3d 1317, 1337 (11th Cir. 2010).

We first consider whether Williams’s Florida robbery conviction qualifies as a “violent felony.” In the district court, Williams argued that his conviction was for robbery, not armed robbery. But under our precedent, resolving this issue makes no difference to whether the conviction qualifies as a “violent felony.”

Florida’s robbery statute, which encompasses both robbery and armed robbery, requires a taking in which “the use of force, violence, assault, or putting in fear” occurs. Fla. Stat. § 812.13(1). In United States v. Dowd, we held that a conviction for Florida armed robbery was “undeniably a conviction for a violent felony,” citing the ACCA’s elements clause. 451 F.3d 1244, 1255 (11th Cir. 2006).

We next considered the Florida robbery statute in United States v. Lockley, holding that a conviction for attempted robbery was a crime of violence under the career-offender guideline’s elements clause, which is identical to the ACCA’s elements clause. 632 F.3d 1238, 1246 (11th Cir. 2011). Analyzing the least culpable of the acts in § 812.13(1), we stressed that “putting in fear” involves an act causing the victim to fear death or great bodily harm and stated that we can “conceive of no means by which a defendant could cause such fear absent a threat to the victim’s person.” Id. at 1244. We recently reaffirmed that both Dowd and Lockley have not been abrogated and remain good law. United States v. Fritts, 841 F.3d 937, 942 (11th Cir. 2016), petition for cert. filed, (Feb. 9, 2017 (No. 16-7883)). As a result, Williams’s robbery conviction—whether for robbery or armed robbery—qualifies as an ACCA predicate.

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Related

United States v. Alejandro Aguilar-Ortiz
450 F.3d 1271 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Robert Earl Dowd
451 F.3d 1244 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Archer
531 F.3d 1347 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Palomino Garcia
606 F.3d 1317 (Eleventh Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Lockley
632 F.3d 1238 (Eleventh Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Owens
672 F.3d 966 (Eleventh Circuit, 2012)
Michael Turner v. Warden Coleman FCI (Medium)
709 F.3d 1328 (Eleventh Circuit, 2013)
Descamps v. United States
133 S. Ct. 2276 (Supreme Court, 2013)
United States v. Frank M. Howard
742 F.3d 1334 (Eleventh Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Mario Estrella
758 F.3d 1239 (Eleventh Circuit, 2014)
United States v. Travis Lamont Smith
775 F.3d 1262 (Eleventh Circuit, 2014)
Johnson v. United States
576 U.S. 591 (Supreme Court, 2015)
United States v. Nakey Demetruis White
837 F.3d 1225 (Eleventh Circuit, 2016)
United States v. Derwin Fritts
841 F.3d 937 (Eleventh Circuit, 2016)
United States v. Warren Travis Golden
854 F.3d 1256 (Eleventh Circuit, 2017)

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700 F. App'x 895, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-anthony-bernard-williams-ca11-2017.