United States v. Clanton T. Bennett

108 F.3d 1315, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 5061, 1997 WL 118530
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMarch 18, 1997
Docket96-5091
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 108 F.3d 1315 (United States v. Clanton T. Bennett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Clanton T. Bennett, 108 F.3d 1315, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 5061, 1997 WL 118530 (10th Cir. 1997).

Opinion

HENRY, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Clanton T. Bennett appeals the district court’s determination that he was a “career offender” for purposes of sentencing enhancement. Because it was unclear that Mr. Bennett’s prior conviction for second-degree burglary was for a “crime of violence,” the sentence must be vacated, and the ease remanded for resentencing.

I. BACKGROUND

After pleading guilty to a single count of bank robbery under 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), Mr. Bennett was sentenced to a prison term of 170 months. The district court enhanced the term of Mr. Bennett’s sentence based on its determination that he was a “career offender,” as defined in United States Sentencing Guidelines (“USSG”) § 4B1.1. Section 4B1.1 requires, in pertinent part, that a career offender have “at least two prior felony convictions of ... a crime of violence.” USSG Manual § 4B1.1 (1995).

The district court determined that two of Mr. Bennett’s prior convictions (burglary in the second degree, and indecent lewd acts with a child under sixteen) constituted crimes of violence. On appeal, Mr. Bennett challenges the use of his seeond-degree burglary conviction as a predicate crime of violence. He does not contest the use of the indecent lewd acts conviction.

II. ANALYSIS

Whether a defendant was erroneously classified as a career offender is a question of law subject to de novo review. See United States v. Newsome, 898 F.2d 119, 120 (10th Cir.1990). “The government shall bear the burden of proof for sentence increases....” United States v. Kirk, 894 F.2d 1162, 1164 (10th Cir.1990). Further, “we resolve any ambiguity in favor of narrowly interpreting the career offender provi- *1317 sions_” United States v. Smith, 10 F.3d 724, 734 (10th Cir.1993).

In the USSG, a “crime of violence” is defined in part as an offense that “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.” USSG Manual § 4B1.2 (1995). Of particular importance in this appeal is that, under the foregoing definition, “burglary of a dwelling” is a crime of violence. Id.

In determining whether a predicate offense qualifies as a crime of violence, courts in this circuit are limited to examining the statutory elements of the crime and the record of the prior proceeding. See United States v. Garcia, 42 F.3d 573, 576 (10th Cir. 1994). The statutory elements of Mr. Bennett’s second-degree burglary offense are defined as follows:

Every person who breaks and enters any building or any part of any building, room, booth, tent, railroad caí-, automobile, truck, trailer, vessel or other structure or erection, in which any property is kept ... with intent to steal any property therein or to commit any felony, is guilty of burglary in the second degree.

Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 1435 (1991). Because this definition does not include physical force as an element, and does not require that the burglary be “of a dwelling,” the statute leaves it unclear whether Mr. Bennett’s conviction was for a crime of violence.

The record of Mr. Bennett’s prior proceeding is similarly ambiguous. In examining such a record, a sentencing court may look to “the charging papers, judgment of conviction, plea agreement or other statement by the defendant for the record, presentence report adopted by the court, and findings by the sentencing judge.” Smith, 10 F.3d at 734.

The parties agree that the record does not include a presentence report, a transcript of court proceedings, or findings by the judge. Whether such documents never existed, or were lost after their creation, is unclear.

From the burglary proceeding, only the information, plea agreement, and judgment of conviction are available. The judgment of conviction is unrevealing, but the information and plea agreement are more instructive. They indicate that Mr. Bennett was initially charged with first-degree burglary and that he later pled to the lesser offense of second-degree burglary. Suppl. rec., def.’s ex. B-l at 1 (Information dated Feb. 12, 1985), pl.’s ex. 1 at 4 (Plea agreement dated May 1, 1985).

The information charged Mr. Bennett with first-degree burglary as follows:

On or about the 9th day of February, 1985, A.D., the crime of burglary in the first degree was feloniously committed in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, by Clanton Thomas Bennett who wilfully and knowingly broke and entered 805 SW 28th OKC, Oklahoma, a dwelling house which was in the possession and was under the control of Roger W. King, by entering through the east bedroom window while Roger W. King was present, with the intent to commit a crime therein, contrary to the provisions of section 1431 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes and against the peace and dignity of the State of Oklahoma.

Suppl. rec., def.’s ex. B-l at 1. This language clearly charged Mr. Bennett with a crime of violence: the statutory definition of first-degree burglary requires that the burglary be of a “dwelling.” Okla. Stat. tit. 21, § 1431. The first-degree burglary statute provides in relevant part: “Every person who breaks into and enters the dwelling house of another, in which there is at the time some human being, with intent to commit some crime therein ... is guilty of burglary in the first degree.” Id.

The fact that Mr. Bennett was charged with a crime of violence, however, is not dispositive for sentencing purposes. The commentary accompanying USSG § 4B1.2 makes plain: “[Tlhe conduct of which the defendant was convicted [not charged] is the focus of the inquiry.” USSG Manual § 4B1.2 cmt. (n.2) (emphasis added). The record of the prior proceeding does not indicate how the wording of the information was amended when Mr. Bennett’s charge was reduced from first- to second-degree burglary. Thus, *1318 whether the word “dwelling” was deleted is unclear.

During the sentencing in federal court, the district judge expressed his opinion that the information could have been lawfully amended only by deleting the words “while Roger W. King was present.” The district judge presumed that the information was amended lawfully, and that the quoted words were in fact eliminated. Because such an amendment would have left the word “dwelling” in the information, the district judge concluded that Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
108 F.3d 1315, 1997 U.S. App. LEXIS 5061, 1997 WL 118530, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-clanton-t-bennett-ca10-1997.