United States v. Demario Edwards

734 F.3d 850, 2013 WL 4105532, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 16936
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 15, 2013
Docket12-10204
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 734 F.3d 850 (United States v. Demario Edwards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Demario Edwards, 734 F.3d 850, 2013 WL 4105532, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 16936 (9th Cir. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge:

DeMario Edwards appeals his 46-month sentence following a guilty plea for possession of a firearm by a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) & 924(a)(2). The principal issue on appeal is the constitutionality of a provision of the federal Sentencing Guidelines that assigns criminal history points for crimes that were committed when the defendant was a juvenile. U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“U.S.S.G.”) § 4A1.2(d)(2)(A). Edwards contends that considering such crimes in sentencing adults is contrary to the Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment cases limiting the degree of criminal punishment of juveniles. See Miller v. Alabama, — U.S.-, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012); Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48, 130 S.Ct. 2011, 176 L.Ed.2d 825 (2010); Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551, 125 S.Ct. 1183, 161 L.Ed.2d 1 (2005). Joining the unanimously held view of our sister circuits, we conclude that the Eighth Amendment permits courts to use prior juvenile convictions to increase the sentence of an adult convicted of a crime.

Edwards further challenges the district court’s finding that his prior conviction for attempted burglary under Nevada law was a “crime of violence” under the modified categorical approach, thereby increasing the base offense level for purposes of the Sentencing Guidelines. The district court looked beyond the elements of the Nevada burglary statute to the charging document and guilty plea to hold that Edwards’s conduct, in attempting to burglarize an occupied apartment, created a risk of physical injury and was therefore a crime of violence. While this appeal was pending, however, the Supreme Court limited application of the modified categorical approach and held that courts may not use judicially noticeable documents to identify facts underlying a prior conviction. See Descamps v. United States, — U.S.-, 133 S.Ct. 2276, 186 L.Ed.2d 438 (2013). The government concedes that the application of the modified categorical approach in this case would be contrary to Des-camps, and it has never contended that a Nevada burglary conviction is a categorical crime of violence. We must therefore vacate and remand for resentencing without the “crime of violence” enhancement.

BACKGROUND

In his short life, Edwards, who is now 23 years old, has accumulated a long and serious criminal history. He was twice convicted as a juvenile, at ages 14 and 16, of felony robbery with a deadly weapon. At age 17, he was convicted as a juvenile for felony possession of marijuana with the intent to sell.

Edwards has continued his criminal activity into adulthood. At age 19, he was charged with attempted burglary under Nevada law. In the charging document, the State alleged that Edwards had “will *852 fully, unlawfully and feloniously attempted] to enter, with intent to commit larceny, that certain [apartment] building ... occupied by [the victim].” Edwards pleaded guilty to the offense and was sentenced to 18 months probation.

While on probation for attempted burglary, parole officers found Edwards in possession of a stolen .45 caliber pistol. This led to the indictment in this case for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). Edwards pleaded guilty.

In calculating criminal history, the Sentencing Guidelines impose a two-point increase for each adult or juvenile conviction before the defendant was 18 years old, that had a maximum sentence of at least 60 days and occurred within the five years preceding the commission of the crime for which the defendant is being sentenced. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(d)(2)(A). The pre-sen-tence report found that two of Edwards’s juvenile convictions — robbery with a deadly weapon at age 16 and possession of marijuana with the intent to sell at age 17 — met these requirements. The report further recommended that the district court find that Edwards’s attempted burglary offense was a “crime of violence” as defined by U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2, resulting in a base offense level of 20 under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(4)(A).

The district court sentenced Edwards to 46 months, the bottom of the Guidelines range. The court, rejecting Edwards’s constitutional arguments, ruled that counting the juvenile convictions to determine criminal history was permissible. The court further held that, pursuant to the judicially noticeable documents, Edwards’s Nevada attempted burglary conviction involved a risk of physical injury to the victim and was therefore a “crime of violence.” The court based its decision on Edwards’s guilty plea to attempting to burglarize an occupied apartment. On appeal, Edwards challenges the assignment of criminal history points for juvenile convictions pursuant to the Sentencing Guidelines and the finding that his attempted burglary plea under Nevada law was for a “crime of violence.”

DISCUSSION

I. Consideration of Juvenile Criminal History in Determining the Sentence for an Adult Convicted of a Crime Does Not Violate the Eighth Amendment

Edwards contends that his juvenile crimes should not have been used to calculate his criminal history score and, as a result, his sentence. He argues that the use of these adjudications is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Roper, 543 U.S. at 569-70, 125 S.Ct. 1183, where the Court struck down the application of the death penalty to individuals who committed a capital offense prior to age 18, and Roper’s progeny, Graham, 130 S.Ct. at 2034, where the Court held that a life without parole sentence for juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses was unconstitutional, and Miller, 132 S.Ct. at 2475, where the Court held that statutes mandating life without parole sentences are unconstitutional as applied to juveniles.

We reject Edwards’s contention and hold that these recent Eighth Amendment cases do not prevent the district court from assigning criminal history points for juvenile convictions. In so holding, we join the unanimous view of our sister circuits, which have affirmed the use of juvenile convictions to determine criminal history of adults. See United States v. Graham, 622 F.3d 445, 461-64 (6th Cir. 2010) (affirming use of prior juvenile drug conviction in determining sentence under *853 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)); United States v. Scott, 610 F.3d 1009, 1018 (8th Cir.2010) (same); United States v. Mays, 466 F.3d 335, 339-40 (5th Cir.2006) (same); United States v. Salahuddin,

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Bluebook (online)
734 F.3d 850, 2013 WL 4105532, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 16936, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-demario-edwards-ca9-2013.