United States v. D.J.H.

179 F. Supp. 3d 866, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45454, 2016 WL 2343400
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedApril 1, 2016
DocketCase No. 16-CR-9-JPS
StatusPublished

This text of 179 F. Supp. 3d 866 (United States v. D.J.H.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. D.J.H., 179 F. Supp. 3d 866, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45454, 2016 WL 2343400 (E.D. Wis. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER

J.P. Stadtmueller, United States District Judge

On January -12, 2016, the government filed a Juvenile Information charging the defendant, D.J.H., a juvenile male, with: (1) two counts of motor vehicle robbery and one count of attempted motor vehicle robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2119(l)-(2); (2) two counts of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c)(l)(A)(ii)-(2); and (3) one count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§• 924(c)(l)(A)(iii)-(2). (Docket # 1). These charges arise out a series of three incidents, involving a .38 special revolver that occurred over the course of approximately two hours on November 15, 2015. (Docket # 13 at 2-5). D.J.H., who was seventeen (17) at the time of the alleged carjackings, is claimed to have been the gunman on all three occasions. (Docket # 13 at 5; Docket # 5; Docket # 4 at 2).

Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 5032, the government filed both a certification to proceed under the Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act (“JDA”), 18 U.S.C. §■ 5031 et seq. (Docket # 5), and a motion for the mandatory transfer of these proceedings to adult criminal prosecution (Docket # 6). The government filed the motion for mandatory transfer on the grounds that D.J.H. has previously been convicted1 as a juvenile of Armed Robbery with. Threat of Force, as Party to a Crime, in violation of Wis. Stats. §§ 943.32(2) and 939.50. (Docket # 13 at 18). This juvenile conviction stemmed from two separate robberies that occurred in September of 2013 in which D.J.H. and a co-actor used a .357 pellet gun to steal a vehicle, purse, wallet, keys, and cell phones from two victims. (Docket # 13 at 6-7). D.J.H. admitted to being the gunman during one of these incidents. (Docket # 13 at 7).

The government argues that transfer is mandatory because D.J,H.’s current carjacking charges and prior armed robbery conviction as a juvenile have, as an element thereof, the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force. (See generally Docket # 13). The defense ar[869]*869gues, inter alia, that in light of Johnson v. United States, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), neither DJ.H.’s prior conviction nor current charges serve as proper bases for transfer under § 5032. (See generally Docket # 16).

The government’s motion for mandatory transfer is now fully briefed and ripe for adjudication. (See Docket # 13, # 16, # 17). For the reasons described herein, the Court will grant the government’s motion and transfer D.J.H. to adult criminal prosecution.

2. ANALYSIS

For the sake of analytical clarity, the Court will first address the statutory framework embodied in § 5032. Thereafter, the Court will analyze whether D.J.H. must be transferred to adult criminal prosecution pursuant to that statute.

2.1 The Mandatory Transfer Statute—18 U.S.C. § 5032

Mandatory transfer of juveniles to adult criminal prosecution is governed by 18 U.S.C. § 5032. This verbose statute is far from a model of clarity. Cf. United States v. A.S.R., 81 F.Supp.3d 709, 714 (E.D.Wis.2015) (“[TJhis is about as dysfunctional ... a statute ... [as] you could find.”) (internal citations omitted). Nonetheless, the statute provides that the transfer of a juvenile to adult prosecution is mandatory if three requirements are satisfied:

(1) the juvenile defendant is charged in the instant case with committing a crime after his sixteenth birthday;
(2) the charged crime is “a felony offense that has as an element thereof the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, or that, by its very nature involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person of another may be used in committing the offense, or would be [one of several enumerated offenses]”; and
(3)the juvenile defendant “has previously been found guilty of an act which if committed by an adult would have been one of the offenses set forth in ' this paragraph or an offense in violation of a State felony statute that would have been such an offense if a circumstance giving rise to Federal jurisdiction had existed.”

18 U.S.C. § 5032.2

The first requirement’s meaning is unambiguous and the parties do not dispute that it is satisfied in this ease because D.J.H. was seventeen (17) at the time he allegedly committed the crimes charged in this case. (See Docket # 1; Docket # 5; Docket # 4 at 2).

The second requirement for mandatory transfer, according to the plain language of the statute, is satisfied if the crime charged in the instant case is a felony that either: (1) has, as an element thereof, the use, attempted use, or threatened use of force (hereinafter, the “force clause”); (2) involves a substantial risk that physical forcé would be used in its commission (hereinafter, the “residual clause”); or (3) is one of several enumerated offenses. 18 U.S.C. § 5032. This requirement contains language that is “virtually identical” to the definition of “crime of violence”3 embodied [870]*870in both 18 U.S.C. § 16 and in the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B) (hereinafter “the ACCA”). See United States v. M.C.E., 232 F.3d 1252, 1256-57 (9th Cir.2000) (citing Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 600-02, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990)); Impounded, 117 F.3d.730, 738 n. 12 (3d Cir.1997). However, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision that ACCA’s residual clause is unconstitutionally vague, see Johnson, 135 S.Ct. at 2555-56, and the Seventh Circuit’s decision that the residual clause embodied in 18 U.S.C. § 16 is unconstitutional under Johnson, see United States v. Vivas-Ceja, 808 F.3d 719, 723 (7th Cir.2015), the government does not rely—and nor will the Court—on the residual clause embodied in Section 5032 when determining whether any of the charges and/or convictions in this case constitute crimes of violence. (See Docket #13).

The third requirement for mandatory transfer is confusing, though the parties do not contest its interpretation. See 18 U.S.C.

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Bluebook (online)
179 F. Supp. 3d 866, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45454, 2016 WL 2343400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-djh-wied-2016.