United States v. Anthony Brown

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: February 22, 2019
• Docket: 18-1426
• Status: Published

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 18-1426 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Anthony Jovon Brown, also known as Anthony Brown

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ___________________________

No. 18-1427 ___________________________

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeals from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Davenport ____________

Submitted: January 14, 2019 Filed: February 22, 2019 [Published] ____________

Before GRUENDER, WOLLMAN, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

Anthony Brown appeals his sentence of 120 months’ imprisonment for bank robbery. He challenges the district court’s1 application of the crime of violence enhancement under the sentencing guidelines, contending that his Illinois attempted robbery conviction does not qualify as a career offender predicate under the guidelines’s force clause. See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(1). “We review de novo the district court’s determination that a conviction constitutes a crime of violence.” United States v. Williams, 899 F.3d 659, 662 (8th Cir. 2018).

We recently held that Illinois robbery is a “violent felony” under the force clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(b). Dembry v. United States, No. 17-2849, 2019 WL 436580, at *2-3 (8th Cir. Feb. 5, 2019). “The relevant definition of a violent felony under the ACCA and the definition of a crime of violence under the guidelines are so similar that we generally consider cases interpreting them interchangeably.” United States v. Sykes, 914 F.3d 615, 620 (8th Cir. 2019) (internal quotation marks omitted). Applying this logic, we hold that Illinois robbery is a crime of violence under the guidelines. And because Illinois robbery is a crime of violence, so too is Illinois attempted robbery. See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(1) n.1 (noting that a “crime of violence” includes attempts to commit such an offense). This conclusion is consistent with Seventh Circuit decisions, which have “repeatedly held that Illinois robbery is a crime of violence

1 The Honorable John A. Jarvey, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

-2- under the ‘force’ clause of § 4B1.2(a)(1).” United States v. Davis, 712 F. App’x 578, 579 (7th Cir. 2018), cert. denied, 138 S. Ct. 2695 (2018).

For these reasons, we affirm Brown’s sentence. ______________________________

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