United States v. Rogers

179 F. Supp. 3d 881, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44701, 2016 WL 1301164
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedApril 1, 2016
DocketCase No. 14-CR-234-JPS
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 179 F. Supp. 3d 881 (United States v. Rogers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Rogers, 179 F. Supp. 3d 881, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44701, 2016 WL 1301164 (E.D. Wis. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER

J.P. Stadtmueller, United States District Judge

This case comes before the Court on Aquinas S. Rogers’ (“Rogers”), motion to reconsider his mandatory transfer to adult criminal prosecution. (Docket #38). On January 12, 2016, the Court entered an Order holding Rogers’ motion in abeyance pending further briefing. (Docket #48). Specifically, the Court requested that the parties brief the issue of whether Rogers’ previous juvenile conviction for Armed Robbery with Threat of Force, as Party to a Crime, in violation of Wis. Stats. §§ 943.32(2) and 939.05,1 qualifies the defendant for transfer under 18 U.S.C. § 5032 in light of Johnson v. United States, — U.S.-, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015).2

As discussed more fully herein, the Court concludes that a juvenile conviction for Armed Robbery with Threat of Force, as Party to a Crime, indeed qualifies Rogers for mandatory transfer because that statutory offense has as an element, the use, threatened use, or attempted use of physical force. See 18 U.S.C. § 5032; Wis. Stat. §§ 943.32(2), 939.05. And, because Johnson did not effect the language of Section 5032 that the Court relies on for the purpose of this holding—ie., the “force clause” of Section 5032—the Court has no basis from which to conclude that Johnson prohibits and/or affects Rogers’ mandatory transfer. Moreover, though it is not necessary to this decision, the Court also finds [884]*884that Rogers must be transferred to adult prosecution because his previous juvenile conviction is the state law equivalent of federal armed robbery—18 U.S.C. § 2111—which is an enumerated offense under Section 5032. Accordingly, Rogers’ motion for reconsideration will be denied. (Docket #38).

1. BACKGROUND

On December 5, 2014, the government filed a juvenile information charging Rogers with attempted armed bank robbery and brandishing a firearm during, and in relation to, a crime of violence. (Docket #1). Rogers had not yet turned 18 at the time. (Docket #1). Thus, the government moved for mandatory transfer of the proceedings against Rogers to adult prosecution, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 5032. (Docket #6). Rogers opposed that motion (Docket #12), and the Court heard oral argument from the parties on the matter (Docket #17).

Ultimately, the Court granted the government’s motion and transferred Rogers’ proceedings to adult criminal prosecution. (Docket #18). The government then indicted Rogers (Docket #20), and several months later Rogers' pled guilty (Docket #28, #30). After pleading guilty, Rogers requested and received two adjournments of his sentencing hearing. (Docket #34, #35, #36, #37). His latest sentencing date was scheduled for January 14,2016. (Docket #37).

However, before sentencing occurred, Rogers moved the Court to reconsider the transfer of this case to adult criminal prosecution. (Docket #38). Specifically, Rogers argued that Johnson, 135 S.Ct. at 2653, undermined the propriety of his mandatory transfer because this Court—at least in part—had relied on language in Section 5032 that is “virtually identical” to the definition of “crime of violence” embodied in both 18 U.S.C. § 16 and in the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B) (hereinafter “the ACCA”). (Docket #18 at 6); see also United States v. M.C.E., 232 F.3d 1252, 1256-57 (9th Cir.2000) (citing Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 600-02, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990)); Impounded, 117 F.3d 730, 738 n. 12 (3d Cir.1997). Since Johnson had deemed a portion of the ACCA’s “crime of violence” definition—i.e., which is most commonly known as the “residual clause”3—unconstitutional, the defendant asked the Court to reassess whether Rogers’ currently-charged offense and prior juvenile conviction could still support transfer under Section 5032. (Docket #38); see also Johnson, 135 S.Ct. at 2563.

On January 12,, 2016, the Court attempted to streamline the resolution of the pending motion by: (1) providing an overview of the arguments and legal issues implicated by the motion to reconsider; (2) clarifying that Johnson did not affect the Court’s conclusion that the first and second requirements4 for mandatory transfer [885]*885were satisfied, respectively; and (3) ordering further briefing with respect to the third requirement for mandatory transfer. (See generally Docket #48). More precisely, the Court requested the parties to brief whether, in light of the Supreme Court’s Johnson, 135 S.Ct. at 2551, decision, Rogers’ previous juvenile conviction for Armed Robbery with Threat of Force, as Party to a Crime, in violation of Wis. Stat. §§ 943.32(2) and 939.05, qualifies Rogers for mandatory transfer under Section 5032. (Docket #48 at 12).

2. STATUTORY FRAMEWORK—18 U.S.C. § 5032

As explained in the Court’s January 12, 2016 Order, transfer under Section 5032 is mandatory if:

(1) a juvenile is charged in the instant case with committing a crime after his sixteenth birthday;
(2) the crime charged in the instant case is “a felony offense that has as an element thereof the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, or that, by its very nature involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person of another may be used in committing the offense, or .would be [one of several enumerated offenses];” and
(3) the juvenile defendant “has previously been found guilty of an act which if committed by an adult would have been one of the offenses set forth in this paragraph or an offense in violation of a State felony statute that would have been such an offense if a circumstance giving rise to Federal jurisdiction had existed.”

18 U.S.C. § 5032; (see also Docket #48 at 3).

Though the first and second requirements for transfer are not disputed at this juncture (see Docket #48), the third requirement—which relates to the nature of the juvenile’s prior conviction—is at issue.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
179 F. Supp. 3d 881, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44701, 2016 WL 1301164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rogers-wied-2016.