United States v. Harris

608 F.3d 1222, 2010 WL 2382401
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJune 16, 2010
Docket07-15811
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 608 F.3d 1222 (United States v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Harris, 608 F.3d 1222, 2010 WL 2382401 (11th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

ON REMAND FROM THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT.

Before CARNES, BARRETT and PRYOR, Circuit Judges.

CARNES, Circuit Judge:

The Supreme Court vacated our judgment in this case, United States v. Harris, 305 Fed.App’x 552 (11th Cir.2008), and remanded it to us for further consideration in light of Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010). Harris v. United States, — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 1734, 176 L.Ed.2d 209 (2010).

I.

At the center of this case is the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), which imposes a 15-year mandatory minimum prison sentence on a person who has been convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, if the person has three earlier convictions “for a violent felony or a serious drug offense, or both.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). A “violent felony” under the ACCA is a crime punishable by a prison term of more than one year that also:

*1224 (i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another; or
(ii) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves the use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.

Id. § 924(e)(2)(B).

The outcome of this case depends on whether Donald Ray Harris’ Florida state conviction for sexual battery of a child under the age of sixteen is a violent felony under the residual clause in § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii), which is the part of the statutory provision beginning with “otherwise.” Harris’ crime is not burglary, arson, extortion, or an offense involving the use of explosives. But it does meet the plain language requirement of “otherwise involving] conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii). Even though it fits in the plain language of the statute, we must apply the holding of Be-gay v. United States, 553 U.S. 137, 143, 128 S.Ct. 1581, 1585, 170 L.Ed.2d 490 (2008), that strict liability crimes are not “roughly similar” to burglary, arson, extortion, or an offense involving the use of explosives and therefore do not come within the residual clause. See id. at 145, 128 S.Ct. at 1586-87. Before we get to our discussion of that rough similarity requirement for residual clause crimes, we follow the Supreme Court’s instruction to reconsider this case in light of Johnson, 559 U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1, which involves the first definition of “violent felony” in the ACCA.

A

In Johnson the Supreme Court considered whether the defendant’s earlier Florida simple battery conviction was a “violent felony” under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(i)— one that “has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(i). Johnson contended that his 2003 battery conviction could not be counted to classify him as an armed career criminal under § 924(e)(2)(B)(i). 130 S.Ct. at 1268-69.

Under the Florida statute that Johnson had been convicted of violating, a battery could be committed in any one of three ways: by intentionally causing bodily harm to the victim, or by intentionally striking the victim, or by actually and intentionally touching the victim. Id. at 1269; see Fla. Stat. § 784.03(l)(a). The Supreme Court determined that nothing in the record of Johnson’s 2003 battery conviction established that he did anything more than the least of those three things: “ ‘actually and intentionally touch[ing]’ the victim.” 1 130 *1225 S.Ct. at 1269 (quoting Fla. Stat. § 784.03(1)(a) (brackets omitted)). As a result, Johnson’s battery conviction could only be counted for the purpose of classifying him as an armed career criminal if “ ‘[actually and intentionally toueh[ing] another person’, Fla. Stat. § 784.03(1)(a), (2) (2003), ‘has as an element the use ... of physical force against the person of another.’ 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(i).” Id. at 1268. The Court held that it did not because “physical force” in the context of the ACCA’s § 924(e)(2)(B)(i) means “violent force.” Id. at 1271. The result was that Johnson’s battery conviction could not be counted for ACCA purposes. See id. at 1269,1274.

The government had asked the Supreme Court to remand the Johnson case to this Court so that we could determine whether Johnson’s battery conviction was a violent felony under the residual clause in 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii). Id. at 1274. The reasons the Court declined to do so are that “[t]he Government did not keep this option alive because it disclaimed at sentencing any reliance upon the residual clause,” and this Court had already implicitly decided that the residual clause did not apply in those circumstances. Id. That same residual clause is at the center of the present case, and we must determine if it applies to Harris’ Florida state court conviction for sexual battery of a child under sixteen years of age. Before doing that, we will set out the procedural facts that frame this issue.

B.

Harris was convicted by a jury of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Harris, 305 Fed.App’x at 553. He was sentenced to 240 months in prison as an armed career criminal. Id. Harris achieved that status by being convicted twice for selling cocaine and once for sexual battery of a child under the age of sixteen in violation of Fla. Stat. § 800.04(3) (1996) (amended 1999). 2 Id. The government proved all three crimes “by submitting certified copies of Harris’ convictions, which were based on guilty pleas.” Id. at 553-54.

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Bluebook (online)
608 F.3d 1222, 2010 WL 2382401, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-harris-ca11-2010.