United States v. Eric Price

851 F.3d 824, 2017 WL 1055585, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 4983
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 21, 2017
Docket16-1334
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 851 F.3d 824 (United States v. Eric Price) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth 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. Eric Price, 851 F.3d 824, 2017 WL 1055585, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 4983 (8th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Eric Price was sentenced to 110 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to possessing firearms as a felon. The district court 2 calculated his base offense level as 24 because of two felony crime-of-violence convictions, and then it applied a four-level enhancement because Price possessed the guns in connection with a felony marijuana offense. Price appeals these enhancements. We affirm.

I. Crime of Violence

We review the crime-of-violence determination de novo. United States v. Harrison, 809 F.3d 420, 425 (8th Cir. 2015). Section § 2K2.1(a)(2) of the Guidelines directs a base offense level of 24 when a felon in possession has twice been convicted of a crime of violence. “Crime of violence” means an offense punishable by more than one year in prison that “has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(1). “ ‘[Pjhysical force’ means violent force — that is, force capable of causing physical pain or injury to another person.” Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133, 140, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010).

Price argues that his 2011 attempted-aggravated-assault conviction under Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-3410(a) (2007) (current version at Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-5412(b)(1) (2011)) did not require proof that he used violent force against another. *826 The statute defines aggravated assault as ordinary assault committed under special circumstances, such as with a deadly weapon. Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-3410. A companion statute defined ordinary assault as “intentionally placing another person in reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm.” Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-3408 (2007) (current version at Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-5412(a) (2011)). Price contends that we recently held an indistinguishable Arkansas statute not to require violent force. See United States v. Jordan, 812 F.3d 1183, 1186 (8th Cir. 2016). The Arkansas statute, though, is distinguishable. It requires only that the defendant “ereate[ ] a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury.” Id. (quoting Ark. Code Ann. § 5—13—204(a)(1)). The Kansas statute, on the other hand, requires that the defendant make the victim reasonably fear immediate physical harm. We recently addressed a similar Minnesota statute requiring proof of an “act with intent to cause fear in another of immediate bodily harm or death.” United States v. Schaffer, 818 F.3d 796, 798 (8th Cir. 2016) (quoting Minn. Stat. § 609.2242, subd. 1(1)). The Minnesota statute, we concluded, requires violent force. Id. at 798. The Kansas aggravated-assault statute likewise requires violent force.

Price contends that the government did not raise this force-clause argument below and should be unable to do so now. The government, however, is not seeking review of the district court’s decision. Its appellate arguments are not essential to our review. We may affirm the district court judgment for any reason the record supports. United States v. Berger, 553 F.3d 1107, 1109 (8th Cir. 2009). Over Price’s objection, the district court accepted the presentence report’s findings and conclusions, which determined “that both [prior convictions] fall under the ‘force’ clause of § 4B1.2(a)(1).” In sum, the record supports the district court’s conclusion that Price’s prior convictions fall under the force clause of § 4B1.2(a).

Price also argues that Kansas law defines “attempt” more broadly than does the common law. Price did not present this argument to the district court. “To preserve an error for appellate review, an objection must be timely and must ‘clearly stat[e] the grounds for the objection.’ Errors not properly preserved are reviewed only for plain error.... ” United States v. Pirani, 406 F.3d 543, 549 (8th Cir. 2005) (en bane) (alteration in original) (citation omitted) (quoting United States v. Williams, 994 F.2d 1287, 1294 (8th Cir. 1993)). The government notes that, under pur cases, if a completed crime is a crime of violence, then an attempt to commit it “automatically qualifies ... under the binding commentary to § 4B1.2.” United States v. Sawyer, 588 F.3d 548, 556 (8th Cir. 2009), abrogated in part by United States v. Eason, 829 F.3d 633, 641 (8th Cir. 2016); see also United States v. Brown, 550 F.3d 724, 728 (8th Cir. 2008) (Guidelines consider an aiding-and-abetting conviction to be a conviction for the underlying offense). In light of this caselaw, Price’s asserted error is not plain. See United States v. Anderson, 783 F.3d 727, 741 (8th Cir. 2015).

II. Marijuana Offense.

We review a possession-in-connection-with-another-felony enhancement for clear error. United States v. Bates, 614 F.3d 490, 493 (8th Cir. 2010). Section § 2K2.1(b)(6)(B) of the Guidelines calls for a four-level enhancement when the defendant “[u]sed or possessed any firearm ... in connection with another felony offense.”

The district court found that Price’s guns were linked to more than 600 grams of marijuana found in the trunk of the car *827 that he occupied. The evidence at sentencing established that on June 13, 2014, a white Chevy Malibu backed into a residential driveway. Price got out of the front passenger seat and went into the house. Then someone opened the garage door from the inside, and a backseat passenger got out of the car. The car’s trunk opened, and Price and the other passenger made three or four trips carrying things from the trunk to the garage. The other passenger closed the trunk and got back into the car. Price closed the garage and also got back into the car and left. Police soon stopped the car and arrested Price. More than 600 grams of marijuana was found in the trunk — all of it was in heat-sealed or Ziploc baggies. Some of it was found inside a.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
851 F.3d 824, 2017 WL 1055585, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 4983, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-eric-price-ca8-2017.