United States v. Marvin Darby

232 F. App'x 917
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMay 11, 2007
Docket06-13341
StatusUnpublished

This text of 232 F. App'x 917 (United States v. Marvin Darby) 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. Marvin Darby, 232 F. App'x 917 (11th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Appellant Marvin Darby appeals his conviction and 250-month sentence for being a felon-in-possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e). The district court sentenced Darby as an armed career criminal, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), because it found that Darby’s prior state convictions for arson, burglary, and escape were “violent felonies” for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”). Darby argues on appeal that the district court erred when it found that his escape conviction was a violent felony because it did not involve conduct that presented a serious potential risk of physical injury to another. Darby also argues that the district court erred by enhancing his sentence, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(4), because the fact that the rifle used in the offense was stolen was neither admitted by him nor found by a jury, as is required by United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005). Darby’s third argument on appeal is that the district court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal because the only evidence Unking him to the crime was the testimony of two witnesses who gave conflicting and inconsistent testimony.

Darby first argues that his escape conviction is not a violent felony and, therefore, the district court erred when it sentenced him as an armed career criminal. We review de novo whether a particular conviction is a “violent felony” for purposes of the ACCA. United States v. Matthews, 466 F.3d 1271, 1273 (11th Cir.2006).

The armed career criminal provision applies to defendants subject to an enhanced sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) for having at least three prior convictions for “violent felonies,” “serious drug offenses,” or both. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4(a). The term “violent felony” is defined in § 924(e)(2)(B) 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 [or] arson....” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)®, (ii). In Taylor v. United States, the Supreme Court held that, for purposes of a § 924(e) sentence enhancement, the court need look only to the statutory definition of the offense or the charging paper to determine whether an offense was a “violent felony” within the meaning of the statute. 495 U.S. 575, 602, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 2160,109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990).

Moreover, like § 924(e)(2)(B)(i), the career offender provision of the guidelines defines a “crime of violence,” in pertinent part, to include “any offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that ... has an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a). We determined in United States v. Gay, 251 F.3d 950 (11th Cir.2001), that a prior escape conviction was a “crime of violence” for purposes of the career offender provision because it did not contain ambiguities, but presented a potential risk of violence, even when it involved a “walk-away” from unsecured correctional facilities. 251 F.3d at 955.

As an initial matter, although Darby asserts that “none of [his] offenses” qualify as “violent offenses,” Darby only argues in his brief that his escape conviction does not qualify as a “violent felony” for purposes of the ACCA and, therefore, has abandoned any arguments with regard to the classification of his burglary and arson convictions. See Greenbriar, Ltd. v. *920 City of Alabaster, 881 F.2d 1570, 1573 n. 6 (11th Cir.1989) (deeming an issue waived where a party fails to include substantive argument); see also 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii) (specifying that burglary and arson are violent felonies for purposes of the provision).

As to Darby’s escape conviction, Darby was convicted of escape in the third degree in violation of ALA CODE § 13A-10-33 (1975), which provides that “[a] person commits the offense of escape in the third degree if he escapes or attempts to escape from custody.” ALA CODE § 13A-10-33(a) (1975). As mentioned earlier, we have held that an escape conviction amounts to a “crime of violence” for purposes of the career offender guidelines. There is no meaningful distinction between the language of the career offender provision and the language of § 924(e)(2)(B). Athough the commentary to § 4B1.4 notes that the definition of “violent felony” used in the armed career criminal provision is not identical to the definition of “crime of violence” used in the career offender provision, the pertinent portions of the definitions are the same. Therefore, under the reasoning of Gay and the language of § 924(e), Darby’s escape conviction amounted to a “violent felony.” Accordingly, Darby was an armed career criminal because he had three prior “violent felonies” within the meaning of the ACCA.

In his second argument on appeal, Darby asserts that the district court erred in relying on the fact that the rifle used in the offense was stolen when that fact was neither admitted by him nor found by a jury. We review a preserved Booker claim on appeal de novo and reverse only for harmful error. United States v. Paz, 405 F.3d 946, 948 (11th Cir.2005). In Booker, the Supreme Court (1) held that, pursuant to the mandatory Sentencing Guidelines, the Sixth Amendment was violated when a sentence was enhanced based solely on judicial fact-finding; and (2) rendered the Sentencing Guidelines advisory only. Booker, 543 U.S. at 233-35, 259-60, 125 S.Ct. at 749-51, 764. Thereafter, we have recognized two types of Booker errors: (1) a Sixth Amendment constitutional error of enhancing a defendant’s sentence using judge-found facts under a mandatory guideline system; and (2) a statutory error of applying the now advisory guidelines as mandatory. United States v. Shelton, 400 F.3d 1325, 1330-31 (11th Cir.2005).

The use of extra-verdict enhancements in an advisory guidelines scheme, however, is not unconstitutional. United States v. Rodriguez, 398 F.3d 1291, 1300 (11th Cir.2005).

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Taylor v. United States
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232 F. App'x 917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-marvin-darby-ca11-2007.