United States v. King

643 F.3d 1003, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 13799, 2011 WL 2641697
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJuly 7, 2011
Docket10-2629
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 643 F.3d 1003 (United States v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. King, 643 F.3d 1003, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 13799, 2011 WL 2641697 (7th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

BAUER, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted defendant-appellant Branden L. King of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and he was sentenced to 210 months’ imprisonment. King challenges the sentencing court’s application of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”) as well as the sufficiency of the evidence used to prove possession. For the following reasons, we affirm King’s conviction and sentence.

I. BACKGROUND

On May 10, 2009, King was pulled over after officers observed him not wearing his seatbelt and failing to use a turn signal. During the stop, the officers discovered that King was driving on a suspended license and arrested him. The officers performed a routine inventory search of King’s car, which was registered under King’s name, and discovered a shotgun in the back seat of the car under a coat. King had previously been convicted of a felony, so he was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The case was tried by a jury.

A forensic examination of the shotgun did not produce a complete set of fingerprints and was inconclusive. But, at trial the government introduced a witness, Shamion McWilliams, a friend of King, who identified the shotgun as the gun that she had seen King take to a gun shop for repairs, and she said that she had seen it in King’s possession on multiple occasions. The government also introduced testimony from Richard Vaughn, the owner of the gun shop, who stated that he remembered King bringing his shotgun in for repair; Vaughn identified the shotgun as being the same gun King brought into his shop.

At the close of the government’s case, King moved for a judgment of acquittal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29, which the district court denied. He renewed the motion after announcing that he would not testify or present witnesses, and the district court denied the motion a second time. The jury found King guilty.

A presentence report (“PSR”) calculated King’s base offense level at 24. The PSR also noted King’s three prior convictions for violent felonies — burglary, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery — and concluded that King qualified as an Armed Career Criminal, increasing King’s offense level to 33. This designation, along with King’s criminal history, resulted in an advisory Guidelines range of 210 to 262 months. The district court sentenced King to 210 months in prison.

*1005 II. ANALYSIS

A. Armed Career Criminal Status

King appeals his sentence, arguing that the trial court erred by refusing to consider the charging instrument when analyzing whether any of King’s prior convictions constituted a violent felony for purposes of the ACCA designation.

Whether a prior conviction qualifies as a “violent felony” for purposes of the ACCA is a question of law that we review de novo. United States v. Wallace, 326 F.3d 881, 886 (7th Cir.2003).

Under the ACCA, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), an offender who is convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) as a felon in possession of a firearm and who has three previous convictions for a violent felony or serious drug offense receives a mandatory minimum 15-year prison sentence. The statute defines a violent felony as “any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year ... that (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 use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B). Specifically, the Supreme Court has interpreted burglary under the ACCA to be considered a violent felony only if it is “generic burglary,” that is, burglary committed in a building or enclosed space. Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 16-17, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005) (citing Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 599, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990)). In opposition to “generic burglary” is “non-generic burglary,” which can exist when a statute defines burglary more broadly, such as by extending the act to entries into boats and cars. Id. at 17, 125 S.Ct. 1254.

Generally, when making a career offender determination, a sentencing court is prohibited from looking into particular facts of the case and is required to take a categorical approach, which limits the court to considering only the fact of conviction and the statutory elements of the offense. Id. (citing Taylor, 495 U.S. at 602, 110 S.Ct. 2143). However, when a statute is divisible and pertains to an offense, such as burglary, where some offense conduct could constitute a violent felony (such as generic burglary) while some would not (such as non-generic burglary), the court may expand its inquiry to a limited set of additional materials in order to determine whether the defendant violated the portion of the statute that constitutes a violent felony. United States v. Woods, 576 F.3d 400, 404 (7th Cir.2009).

King argues that the sentencing court did not look beyond the fact of conviction when making the determination that King was a career offender and argues that, at a minimum, the sentencing court should have conducted a further analysis to determine whether the statute under which King was convicted was a divisible burglary statute.

We need not spend a lot of time on this argument. An assessment of the divisibility of the Illinois burglary statute has no effect on King’s career offender status because the record makes clear that King’s particular conviction at issue — -burglary by entering a Cub Foods building — was a generic burglary offense that on its face fell within the ACCA’s definition of a violent felony. King pleaded guilty to burglary; thus, he admitted the intent to commit a crime within a building or enclosed space. Because burglary is a violent felony for purposes of the ACCA if committed in a building or enclosed space, the district court did not err in using King’s prior burglary conviction as a qualifying conviction under the ACCA.

*1006 B. Sufficiency of the Evidence

We give a jury verdict great deference and will uphold it if, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Hicks,

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Bluebook (online)
643 F.3d 1003, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 13799, 2011 WL 2641697, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-king-ca7-2011.