United States v. Theodore Jackson, Jr.

704 F. App'x 484
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedAugust 8, 2017
Docket16-3711
StatusUnpublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 704 F. App'x 484 (United States v. Theodore Jackson, Jr.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Theodore Jackson, Jr., 704 F. App'x 484 (6th Cir. 2017).

Opinion

CLAY, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Theodore Jackson appeals the district court’s judgment sentencing him to 262 months’ imprisonment for armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113, and 120 months’ imprisonment for being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), to run concurrently. Jackson was also sentenced to 84 months’ incarceration, to run consecutively to the other sentences, for using a firearm while committing a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). Jackson’s total sentence was therefore 346 months of imprisonment. On appeal, Jackson argues that the district court improperly characterized him as a career offender, pursuant to USSG § 4B1.1, and that his sentence was procedurally unreasonable based on the district court’s failure to discuss the sentencing factors outlined in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court in part and VACATE the judgment in part. This case is therefore REMANDED for resentencing in a manner not inconsistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Defendant Theodore Jackson, along with a co-defendant, committed armed bank robbery on February 6, 2004, in Euclid, Ohio. Jackson was charged with three offenses: armed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) and (d) (Count 1); *486 carrying and brandishing a firearm during the- bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A) (Count 2); and being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) (Count 3). After a jury trial, Jackson was found guilty of all three charges. Based on Jackson’s two prior Ohio convictions for aggravated robbery in 1995 and 1996, as well as his 1996 Ohio conviction for attempted robbery, the district court determined that Jackson was an armed career criminal.' Jackson therefore faced a fifteen year mandatory minimum sentence on Counts 1 and 3, as well as a seven year mandatory consecutive sentence on Count 2. The district court sentenced Jackson to 276 months of imprisonment on Counts 1 and 3, as well as 84 months’ imprisonment on Count 2, to run consecutively, for a total sentence of 360 months of incarceration.

While Jackson was serving his sentence, the Supreme Court issued Johnson v. United States, — U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), holding that the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), codified as 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii), was unconstitutionally vague. Id. at 2563. Jackson subsequently filed a motion to vacate his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, in which he argued that he was no longer an armed career criminal in light of Johnson. The government conceded that the ACCA no longer applied, as at least one of Jackson’s prior convictions no longer qualified as a predicate offense after the residual clause was invalidated. The district court granted the motion to vacate Jackson’s sentence and held a new sentencing hearing for Jackson on June 24, 2016.

In the sentencing memorandum submitted prior to the hearing, Jackson argued that because he was no longer considered an armed career criminal, his guidelines range, after accounting for the mandatory consecutive minimum sentence of seven years on Count 2, would be 176 to 199 months of imprisonment. The government, in response, argued that while Jackson should no longer be designated as an armed career criminal under the ACCA, he should still be considered a career offender under the sentencing enhancement provided in § 4B1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines. Thus, the government asked that the same 360 month sentence be imposed, at a minimum.

■At the sentencing hearing, the district court heard arguments on the issue of whether Jackson should be. considered a career offender and ultimately sided with the government. After applying the career offender enhancement, the district court calculated a Guidelines range of 262 to 327 months on Count 1, as well as an 84 month minimum on Count 2, and a 120 month sentence for Count 3. The district court arrived at a sentence at the bottom of the Guidelines — 262 months of imprisonment on Count 1 to run concurrently with a 120 month sentence for Count 3, plus a sentence of 84 months on-Count 2, to run consecutively. Thus, the district court imposed a total sentence of 346 months’ incarceration, This timely . appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

Jackson’s appeal presents two issues. First, he contends that, the district court improperly sentenced him as a career offender, pursuant to § 4B1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines. Second, Jackson argues that his sentence was procedural^ unreasonable ba,sed on the district court’s failure to discuss the sentencing factors outlined in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), We discuss each of these arguments in turn.

I. Career Offender Sentencing Enhancement

Section 4B1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines contains a career-offender enhancement, which provides that:

*487 A defendant is a career offender if (1) the defendant was at least eighteen years old at the time the defendant committed the instant offense of conviction; (2) the instant offense of conviction is a felony that is either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense; and (3) the defendant has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.

USSG § 4B1.1(a). The Guidelines, at the time of Jackson’s sentencing, 1 further defined a “crime of violence” as:

any offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year that — -(1) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, or (2) is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.

USSG § 481.2(a) (2015). The last clause defining a crime of violence as an offense that “otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another” is known as the residual clause. The identical language in the ACCA’s residual clause definition of “violent felony,” codified as 18 U.S.C § 924

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Bluebook (online)
704 F. App'x 484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-theodore-jackson-jr-ca6-2017.