United States v. Chapman

21 F. Supp. 3d 839, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65907, 2014 WL 1931814
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedMay 14, 2014
DocketCriminal Action No. H-09-028; Civil Action No. H-13-3404
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 21 F. Supp. 3d 839 (United States v. Chapman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Chapman, 21 F. Supp. 3d 839, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65907, 2014 WL 1931814 (S.D. Tex. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND OPINION

LEE H. ROSENTHAL, District Judge.

Steven Dallas Chapman moved for re-sentencing under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, relying on Descamps v. United States, — U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 2276, 186 L.Ed.2d 438 (2013). (Docket Entry No. 87). The United States responded and moved for summary judgment on the basis that Chapman’s motion is untimely and, alternatively, presents no genuine factual dispute or basis for relief. (Docket Entry No. 90).

Based on the § 2255 motion and response, the record, and the applicable law, the court grants the government’s motion for summary judgment, denies Chapman’s § 2255 motion, and dismisses his civil case, with prejudice. The reasons are explained below.

I. Background

On January 14, 2009, a federal grand jury indicted Chapman for being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and (2). Chapman pleaded guilty to the indictment, without a plea agreement, in November 2009. He was sentenced in June 2010 to a 188-month prison term. The sentence included an enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act (AACA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), based on three prior Texas convictions for burglary. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in July 2011. United States v. Chapman, 431 Fed.Appx. 337 (5th Cir.2011). On November 18, 2013, Chapman filed this Motion to Vacate Sentence Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. (Docket Entry No. 87).

At the rearraignment, Chapman admitted to facts showing that he was guilty of the crime charged. (Docket Entry No. 75 at 16-17). The court admonished Chapman that the government would seek an enhanced penalty under the ACCA and that if the ACCA applied, the statutory minimum punishment would be 15 years. In response to the court’s questions, Chapman stated under oath that he had discussed with his counsel the government’s intent to seek the enhancement, understood the sentencing consequences if the enhancement applied, and with that understanding, wanted to plead guilty. (Id. at 10). The court accepted Chapman’s guilty plea. (Id.).

At the June 2010 sentencing hearing, the court determined that Chapman was subject to an enhanced sentence under the ACCA based on his three prior Texas convictions for burglary. Chapman had pleaded guilty on November 7, 2001 to burglary in San Jacinto County, Texas and was sentenced to a 2-year prison term. (Presentence Report (PSR), Docket Entry No. 58 at ¶ 38). On November 28, 2001, he pleaded guilty to burglary in Montgomery County, Texas and was sentenced to serve 7 years. (PSR at ¶ 39). He pleaded guilty to another burglary offense on November 27, 2002, in Walker County, Texas, and was sentenced to a 6-year prison term. (PSR at ¶ 37).

[842]*842Chapman did not dispute the prior convictions but objected to any enhancing effect from one of them. He argued that the Montgomery County burglary conviction could not serve as a predicate conviction under the ACCA.

The Texas burglary statute under which Chapman was charged and convicted in the Montgomery County case stated as follows:

(a) A person commits an offense if, without the effective consent of the owner, the person:
(1) enters a habitation, or a building (or any portion of a building) not then open to the public, with intent to commit a felony, theft, or an assault; or
(3) enters a building or habitation and commits or attempts to commit a felony, theft, or an assault.

Tex. Penal Code §§ 30.02(a)(1), (a)(3).

The indictment against Chapman did not state under which section he was charged. The Fifth Circuit had previously held that a conviction under § 30.02(a)(1) was for generic burglary, but a conviction under § 30.02(a)(3) was not. United States v. Constante, 544 F.3d 584, 587 (5th Cir.2008). The elements of generic burglary are (1) an “unlawful or unprivileged entry into or remaining in, (2) a “building or other structures” (3) with intent to commit a crime therein.” Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 598, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990). At Chapman’s sentencing hearing, the government submitted documents Chapman signed in connection with his guilty plea in the Montgomery County case. In a document entitled “Stipulation of Evidence,” Chapman stated: “I stipulate and admit that on or about May 1, 2001 in Montgomery County, Texas, I did then and there intentionally and knowingly enter a habitation, without the effective consent of Jeffrey Sutton, with intent to commit theft and attempted to commit and committed theft.” (See Docket Entry No. 90 at 6 n. 4). The government submitted the confession to show that the Montgomery County conviction met the elements of generic burglary and- could be used as a predicate for the ACCA enhancement. The court considered the “Stipulation of Evidence” under Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 26, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005), and adopted the PSR, which treated the prior burglary convictions as predicate ACCA convictions. Under the PSR, the total offense level was 31 and the criminal history category was VI, which established a guideline range of 188 to 235 months with a 15-year statutory minimum. (Docket Entry No. 71 at 8). The court considered the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors and the sentencing guideline objectives and sentenced Chapman to a 188-month term. This was at the lowest end of the applicable guideline range, applying § 924(e). (Docket Entry No. 64).

On direct appeal, Chapman challenged the ACCA sentencing enhancement on the basis that his Montgomery County conviction did not satisfy all the requirements for the generic offense of burglary. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held as follows:

The ... applicable Texas indictment conjunctively charged elements of both generic and nongeneric burglary offenses under Texas Penal Code § 30.02(a)(1) and (a)(3). The fact of Chapman’s guilty plea to the charges in the indictment is alone insufficient, under Texas law, to demonstrate that his prior offense constituted the generic offense of burglary. See United States v. Morales-Martinez, 496 F.3d 356, 358-61 (5th Cir.2007). The district court, however, did not rely solely on Chapman’s guilty plea to the charges in the indictment; instead, the court properly con[843]*843sidered Chapman’s written judicial confession. See United States v. Garcia-Arellano, 522 F.3d 477, 481 (5th Cir.2008).

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Bluebook (online)
21 F. Supp. 3d 839, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65907, 2014 WL 1931814, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-chapman-txsd-2014.