United States v. Charles

566 F. Supp. 2d 1229, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58550, 2008 WL 2832172
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJuly 23, 2008
Docket07-40140-01-SAC
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 566 F. Supp. 2d 1229 (United States v. Charles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Charles, 566 F. Supp. 2d 1229, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58550, 2008 WL 2832172 (D. Kan. 2008).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SAM A. CROW, Senior District Judge.

The case comes before the court on the defendant’s unresolved objection to the presentence report (“PSR”). The defendant pleaded guilty to a single-count indictment charging felony possession of a firearm. The PSR recommends a base offense level of 24 pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(2) for committing this offense after two felony convictions, one for a crime of violence and one for a controlled substance offense. With a total offense level of 21, after deducting the acceptance of responsibility adjustment, the guideline range is 57 to 71 months based on a criminal history category of four. The defendant’s remaining unresolved objection is that his prior federal conviction for escape from custody is not a crime of violence in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Begay v. United States, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 1581, 170 L.Ed.2d 490 (2008).

By the terms of U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(2), if the defendant’s possession of the firearm occurred “subsequent to sustaining at least two felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense,” the defendant’s base offense level is 24. The meaning of “crime of violence” here is the same as the term is used in the career offender provisions at U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a) and application note one. U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1, comment, n. 1. Section 4B1.2(a) defines a crime of violence as a federal or state felony offense, that:

(1) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, or
*1231 (2) is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.

Thus, the first definition requires a particular statutory element in the offense, and the second definition breaks down into a list of enumerated offenses or an offense involving conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury.

For purposes of this case, the definition of “crime of violence” under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(2) is virtually identical to the definition of “violent felony” found in the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). See United States v. Moyer, 282 F.3d 1311, 1315 (10th Cir.2002). Thus, the courts have employed the same approach in determining whether an offense meets these similar definitions. See, e.g., United States v. Krejcarek, 453 F.3d 1290, 1294 (10th Cir.2006); United States v. Moore, 420 F.3d 1218, 1220-21 (10th Cir.2005). The Supreme Court in Begay reiterated this general approach:

In determining whether this crime is a violent felony, we consider the offense generically, that is to say, we examine it in terms of how the law defines the offense and not in terms of how an individual offender might have committed it on a particular occasion. See Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 602, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990) (adopting this “categorical approach”); see also James v. United States, 550 U.S. 192, 127 S.Ct. 1586, 1597, 167 L.Ed.2d 532 (2007) (attempted burglary is a violent felony even if, on some occasions, it can be committed in a way that poses no serious risk of physical harm).

128 S.Ct. at 1584. In other words, a court looks only to the fact of the conviction and the statutory elements of the offense and generally omits any consideration of the particular facts found in the record of conviction. Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 17, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005); see United States v. Krejcarek, 453 F.3d at 1294. When a statute “is ambiguous, or broad enough to encompass both violent and nonviolent crimes, a court can look beyond the statute to certain records of the prior proceeding, such as the charging documents, the judgment, any plea thereto and findings by the sentencing court.” United States v. Perez-Vargas, 414 F.3d 1282, 1284 (10th Cir. 2005) (quotation and citations omitted); see United States v. Maldonado-Lopez, 517 F.3d 1207, 1209 (10th Cir.2008).

The defendant contends his federal conviction for escape from custody is not a crime of violence. In that case numbered 05-20103-01, the defendant pleaded guilty to count one of the indictment that charged him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 751(a) by escaping the custody of a halfway house to which he had been confined by the Bureau of Prisons. The Tenth Circuit has “repeatedly held that escape is categorically a crime of violence because it ‘always constitutes conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.’ ” United States v. Avalos, 506 F.3d 972, 980 (10th Cir.2007) (quoting United States v. Patterson, 472 F.3d 767, 783 (10th Cir.2006), petition for cert. filed, — U.S.L.W. -, (U.S. Dec. 27, 2006) (No. 06-10972)), petition for cert. filed, — U.S.L.W.-, (U.S. Mar. 21, 2008) (No. 07-10063). In United States v. Turner, 285 F.3d 909, 916 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 895, 123 S.Ct. 180, 154 L.Ed.2d 163 (2002), the court explained that “[e]ven though initial circumstances of an escape may be non-violent, there is no way to predict what an escapee will do when encountered by the authorities. Every escape is a powder keg, which may or may not explode into violence.” The defen *1232 dant’s objection opposes the established precedent in this circuit that an escape conviction plainly falls within the residual clause of the second definition for “crime of violence,” that is, involving “conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(2)

The defendant argues the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Begay “effectively overruled” this line of Tenth Circuit precedent. While it adds another test to the application of the residual clause, the holding in Begay does not necessarily overrule the Tenth Circuit’s characterization of escape as a crime of violence. See United States v. Nichols,

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Bluebook (online)
566 F. Supp. 2d 1229, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58550, 2008 WL 2832172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-charles-ksd-2008.