United States v. Lewis

330 F. App'x 353
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMay 20, 2009
Docket07-4058
StatusUnpublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 330 F. App'x 353 (United States v. Lewis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third 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. Lewis, 330 F. App'x 353 (3d Cir. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.

In this appeal we consider whether a burglary conviction under an Ohio statute in effect in 1991 constitutes a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA).

I.

Barry Wayne Lewis, a convicted felon, was indicted under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e), after he was found carrying a rifle in Warren, Pennsylvania. At the time of his arrest, Lewis had three prior felony convictions, including assault with a deadly weapon in California, and abduction and burglary in Ohio. After Lewis pleaded guilty to the firearm charge, the parties disagreed regarding the appropriate sentence. The Government sought a mandatory minimum of 15 years imprisonment, arguing that Lewis’s Ohio burglary conviction was his third “violent felony” under ACCA, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). Lewis argued otherwise and the District Court *356 agreed with him, holding that the Ohio burglary conviction was not a qualifying offense under ACCA. The Government filed this timely appeal and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(b).

II.

At issue is ACCA’s “residual clause,” which has been the subject of Supreme Court review each of the past three years. See James v. United States, 550 U.S. 192, 127 S.Ct. 1586, 167 L.Ed.2d 532 (2007); Begay v. United States, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 1581, 170 L.Ed.2d 490 (2008); Chambers v. United States, — U.S. -, 129 S.Ct. 687, 172 L.Ed.2d 484 (2009). Pursuant to the residual clause, we must decide whether Lewis’s Ohio burglary conviction “involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii). 1

A.

We analyze the Ohio statute using a categorical approach, see Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 602, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990), which asks “whether the elements of the offense are of the type that would justify its inclusion within the residual provision, without inquiring into the specific conduct of this particular offender.” James, 550 U.S. at 202, 127 S.Ct. 1586. In applying the categorical approach, a sentencing court is “generally limited to examining the statutory definition, charging document, written plea agreement, transcript of plea colloquy, and any explicit factual finding by the trial judge to which the defendant assented.” Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 16, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005). The categorical approach is necessary to “avoid collateral trial[s] and [retroactive] judicial factfinding” relative to predicate offenses that may have occurred years ago. United States v. Siegel, 477 F.3d 87, 93-94 (3d Cir.2007). Based on the sources permitted by Shepard, a court must decide “whether the conduct encompassed by the elements of the offense, in the ordinary case, presents a serious potential risk of injury to another.” James, 550 U.S. at 208, 127 S.Ct. 1586 (emphasis added). State court decisions interpreting state law inform this decision. Id. at 202-06, 127 S.Ct. 1586 (discussing Florida courts’ interpretations of a Florida statute). 2

B.

This case presents a convoluted factual scenario that complicates our categorical assessment. Lewis initially was charged with aggravated burglary under Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2911.11 (1993) (Section 11), which stated in pertinent part:

*357 (A) No person, by force, stealth, or deception, shall trespass in an occupied structure ... or in a separately secured or separately occupied portion thereof, with purpose to commit therein any theft offense ... or any felony, when any of the following apply:
(3) The occupied structure involved is the permanent or temporary habitation of any person, in which at the time any person is present or likely to be present.

Lewis did not plead guilty to the original indictment; instead, he pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of burglary under Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2911.12 (1993) (Section 12), which stated in pertinent part:

(A) No person, by force, stealth, or deception, shall do any of the following:
(1)Trespass in an occupied structure or in a separately secured or separately occupied portion thereof, with purpose to commit therein any theft offense or any felony.

Lewis’s guilty plea to burglary under Section 12(A)(1) was not made pursuant to a superseding indictment; rather, the original indictment for aggravated burglary was altered to reflect the plea deal. Consequently, the plea reflected all of the averments in the original indictment, along with the amendment to the indictment, which substituted burglary under Section 12 for aggravated burglary under Section 11. This created an anomaly because the averments in the indictment sufficed for aggravated burglary, but Lewis pleaded guilty only to burglary.

Both Sections 11 and 12 rely on the definition of “occupied structure” found in Ohio Rev.Code Ann. § 2901.01 (1993):

(C) “Occupied structure” means any house, building, outbuilding, watercraft, aircraft, railroad, railroad car, truck, trailer, tent, or other structure, vehicle, or shelter, or any portion thereof, to which any of the following applies:
(1) It is maintained as a permanent or temporary dwelling, even though it is temporarily unoccupied and whether or not any person is actually present.
(2) At the time, it is occupied as the permanent or temporary habitation of any person, whether or not any person is actually present.
(3) At the time, it is specially adapted for the overnight accommodation of any person, whether or not any person is actually present.

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Bluebook (online)
330 F. App'x 353, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lewis-ca3-2009.