United States v. Stitt

586 U.S. 27, 139 S. Ct. 399, 202 L. Ed. 2d 364, 2018 U.S. LEXIS 7167
Supreme Court of the United States·Decided December 10, 2018·No. 17–765; 17–766.·Published·Cited by 163 cases

Opinion

Justice BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Armed Career Criminal Act requires a federal sentencing judge to impose upon certain persons convicted of unlawfully possessing a firearm a 15-year minimum prison term. The judge is to impose that special sentence if the offender also has three prior convictions for certain violent or drug-related crimes. 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e). Those prior convictions include convictions for "burglary." § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii). And the question here is whether the statutory term "burglary" includes burglary of a structure or vehicle that has been adapted or is customarily *404 used for overnight accommodation. We hold that it does.

I

The consolidated cases before us involve two defendants, each of whom was convicted in a federal court of unlawfully possessing a firearm in violation of § 922(g)(1). The maximum punishment for this offense is typically 10 years in prison. § 924(a)(2). Each offender, however, had prior state burglary convictions sufficient, at least potentially, to require the sentencing judge to impose a mandatory 15-year minimum prison term under the Armed Career Criminal Act. That Act, as we have just said, requires an enhanced sentence for offenders who have at least three previous convictions for certain "violent" or drug-related felonies. § 924(e)(1). Those prior felonies include "any crime" that is "punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year" and that also

"(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." § 924(e)(2)(B) (emphasis added).

The question here concerns the scope of the statutory word "burglary."

The relevant prior convictions of one of the unlawful firearms offenders, Victor J. Stitt, were for violations of a Tennessee statute that defines "[a]ggravated burglary" as "burglary of a habitation." Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-403 (a) (1997). It further defines "[h]abitation" to include: (1) "any structure, including ... mobile homes, trailers, and tents, which is designed or adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons, " and (2) any "self-propelled vehicle that is designed or adapted for the overnight accommodation of persons and is actually occupied at the time of initial entry by the defendant." §§ 39-14-401(1)(A), (B) (emphasis added).

The relevant prior convictions of the other unlawful firearms offender, Jason Daniel Sims, were for violations of an Arkansas statute that prohibits burglary of a "residential occupiable structure." Ark. Code Ann. § 5-39-201 (a)(1) (Michie 1997). The statute defines "[r]esidential occupiable structure" to include:

"a vehicle, building, or other structure:
"(A) [w]here any person lives; or
"(B) [w]hich is customarily used for overnight accommodation of persons whether or not a person is actually present." § 5-39-101(1) (emphasis added).

In both cases, the District Courts found that the state statutory crimes fell within the scope of the word "burglary" in the Armed Career Criminal Act and consequently imposed that statute's mandatory sentence enhancement. In both cases, the relevant Federal Court of Appeals held that the statutory crimes did not fall within the scope of the word "burglary," vacated the sentence, and remanded for resentencing. See 860 F.3d 854 (C.A.6 2017) (en banc) (reversing panel decision to the contrary); 854 F.3d 1037 (C.A.8 2017).

The Government asked us to grant certiorari to consider the question "[w]hether burglary of a nonpermanent or mobile structure that is adapted or used for overnight accommodation can qualify as 'burglary' under the Armed Career Criminal Act." Pet. for Cert. in No. 17-765, p. i; Pet. for Cert. in No. 17-766, p. i. And, in light of uncertainty about the scope of the term "burglary" in the lower courts, we granted the Government's request. Compare 860 F.3d, at 862-863 , 854 F.3d, at 1040 ; United States v. White, 836 F.3d 437 , 446 (C.A.4 2016) ; United States v. Grisel, 488 F.3d 844 (C.A.9 2007) (en *405 banc), with Smith v. United States, 877 F.3d 720 , 724 (C.A.7 2017), cert. pending, No. 17-7517; United States v. Spring, 80 F.3d 1450 , 1462 (C.A.10 1996).

II

A

The word "burglary," like the word "crime" itself, is ambiguous. It might refer to a kind of crime, a generic crime, as set forth in a statute ("a burglary consists of behavior that ..."), or it might refer to the way in which an individual offender acted on a particular occasion ("on January 25, Jones committed a burglary on Oak Street in South San Francisco"). We have held that the words in the Armed Career Criminal Act do the first. Accordingly, we have held that the Act requires us to evaluate a prior state conviction "in terms of how the law defines the offense and not in terms of how an individual offender might have committed it on a particular occasion."

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United States v. Stitt, 586 U.S. 27, 139 S. Ct. 399, 202 L. Ed. 2d 364, 2018 U.S. LEXIS 7167 (2018).

586 U.S. 27 (United States v. Stitt) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Massengill v. United States
W.D. Tennessee, 2024
Ogunsula v. Warrenfeltz
D. Maryland, 2024
United States v. Jay Liestman
97 F.4th 1054 (Seventh Circuit, 2024)
United States v. Joel Smithers
92 F.4th 237 (Fourth Circuit, 2024)
V-A-K v. Garland
Second Circuit, 2023
United States v. Lawrence Dewaine Schumaker
83 F.4th 1031 (Sixth Circuit, 2023)
POUGATCHEV
28 I. & N. Dec. 719 (Board of Immigration Appeals, 2023)
McKenzy Alfred v. Merrick Garland
64 F.4th 1025 (Ninth Circuit, 2023)
V-A-K
28 I. & N. Dec. 630 (Board of Immigration Appeals, 2022)
Fernando Cordero-Garcia v. Merrick Garland
44 F.4th 1181 (Ninth Circuit, 2022)
United States v. Robert Cisson
Fourth Circuit, 2022
Robinson v. United States
W.D. Tennessee, 2021
WINARSKE v. LAMMER
S.D. Indiana, 2021
United States v. Jason Nebinger
987 F.3d 734 (Seventh Circuit, 2021)
Ervin v. United States
W.D. Tennessee, 2020
Locke v. United States
E.D. Tennessee, 2020