United States v. Leonard Ellis

815 F.3d 419, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 4222, 2016 WL 859936
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 7, 2016
Docket15-1261
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 815 F.3d 419 (United States v. Leonard Ellis) 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. Leonard Ellis, 815 F.3d 419, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 4222, 2016 WL 859936 (8th Cir. 2016).

Opinions

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Leonard Ellis pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). The district court1 sentenced him to sixty-one months’ imprisonment. Ellis reiterates on appeal a claim of procedural error at sentencing that was rejected by the district court. He also advances two new challenges to the sentence that are raised for the first time in this court. We conclude that the district court ruled correctly on the first argument, and that neither of the forfeited arguments establishes a plain error warranting relief. We therefore affirm the judgment.

At sentencing, the district court calculated an advisory sentencing range for Ellis. Under USSG § 2K2.1, the base offense level for an offender convicted as a felon in possession of a firearm depends in part on his criminal history. If Ellis sustained a prior felony conviction for a crime of violence, then his base offense level is 20. Without a prior conviction for a crime of violence, his base offense level would be 14. The district court found that Ellis’s prior felony conviction for resisting arrest by fleeing, in violation of Mo.Rev.Stat. § 575.150, was a “crime of violence” within the meaning of USSG § 4B1.2(a) and applied the higher offense level. Given a base offense level of 20, a three-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility, and a criminal history category of VI, the court determined an advisory sentencing range of 51 to 63 months’ imprisonment. After considering the factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), the court sentenced Ellis to 61 months.

Ellis objected to the district court’s finding on the ground that his prior offense of conviction for resisting arrest by fleeing in Missouri is not categorically a crime of violence. The district court relied on the residual clause of § 4B1.2(a)(2), which defines “crime of violence” to include any offense that “otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” Ellis contends that a person can violate § 575.150 by “fleeing from [an] officer,” and that some violations — such as merely fleeing on foot — would not present a sufficient risk of injury to be crimes of violence.

In United States v. Hudson, 577 F.3d 883 (8th Cir.2009), however, this court held that a felony violation of § 575.150 is categorically a crime of violence. Because one [421]*421element of a felony violation requires proof that the defendant’s flight created a “substantial risk of serious physical injury,” we concluded that the offense necessarily “presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another” within the meaning of § 4B1.2(a)(2). Id. at 885-86; accord United States v. Hollis, 447 F.3d 1053, 1054-55 (8th Cir.2006) (per curiam). Any flight that does not present a substantial risk of serious injury constitutes only a misdemeanor under the statute. Mo.Rev. Stat. § 575.150(5). Therefore, the district court correctly overruled Ellis’s objection.

Ellis, relying on Johnson v. United States, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), argues for the first time on appeal that the residual clause of § 4B1.2(a)(2) is unconstitutionally vague, and that the court’s finding of a prior crime of violence under the residual clause is therefore erroneous. Johnson held that a similarly worded residual clause in 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), which affected the statutory minimum and maximum penalties for a defendant, is unconstitutionally vague. Id. at 2557. The government responds that Ellis’s claim was forfeited and thus should be reviewed under the plain-error standard. Gov’t Supp. Br. 5; see Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b); United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). The government agrees with Ellis that the residual clause is unconstitutionally vague, but argues that Ellis cannot show a reasonable probability that he would have received a lighter sentence even if the court had applied a lower base offense level under the advisory guidelines.

We conclude that if there was error in applying the residual clause to Ellis’s prior conviction, then the error is not “obvious” or “plain,” and relief is not warranted under the plain-error standard of review. Although the government agrees with Ellis’s argument that the holding of Johnson applies to the residual clause of § 4B1.2(a)(2), the government’s concession is not conclusive. United States v. Dawn, 685 F.3d 790, 795 (8th Cir.2012). Whether a vague advisory sentencing guideline could violate the Due Process Clause is an open question in this circuit, and the answer is not obvious.

This court held in United States v. Wivell, 893 F.2d 156 (8th Cir.1990), that the guidelines “are simply not susceptible to a vagueness attack.” Id. at 159; see also United States v. Tichenor, 683 F.3d 358, 363-65 (7th Cir.2012); United States v. Smith, 73 F.3d 1414, 1418 (6th Cir.1996); United States v. Pearson, 910 F.2d 221, 223 (5th Cir.1990). Recently, this court concluded that the “reasoning in Wivell that the guidelines cannot be unconstitutionally vague because they do not proscribe conduct is doubtful after Johnson.” United States v. Taylor, 803 F.3d 931, 933 (8th Cir.2015). But Taylor did not decide whether the guideline is unconstitutionally vague and did not address other reasoning in Wivell, to wit: “Because there is no constitutional right to sentencing guidelines — or, more generally, to a less discretionary application of sentences than that permitted prior to the Guidelines — the limitations the Guidelines place on a judge’s discretion cannot violate a defendant’s right to due process by reason of being vague.” Wivell, 893 F.2d at 160. Nor did Taylor consider the reasoning of United States v. Matchett, 802 F.3d 1185, 1193-96 (11th Cir.2015), where the Eleventh Circuit held after Johnson that the residual clause of § 4B1.2(a)(2) is not unconstitutionally vague. Instead, Taylor “le[ft] for the district court on remand the question of whether the residual clause of the career offender guideline is unconstitutional.” 803 F.3d at 933.

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Bluebook (online)
815 F.3d 419, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 4222, 2016 WL 859936, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-leonard-ellis-ca8-2016.