Criminal Law: Felon in Possession of Firearm-Armed Career Criminal Act-Violent Felony

Listen to this article

Defendant pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The district court imposed a 15-year statutory minimum sentence under the ACCA, finding that defendant had committed three prior “violent felonies”. On appeal, defendant argued that his 1977 Missouri conviction for second-degree burglary was not a violent felony”.

Where the Missouri burglary statute merely listed locations where burglaries could occur rather than listing means for committing burglary, defendant’s underlying conviction did not qualify as a violent felony under the ACCA.

Loken, J., dissenting: “ In my view the court impermissibly overrules a controlling Supreme Court decision, Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 (1990), based upon reasoning in later Supreme Court cases that did not overrule the holding in Taylor.”

Judgment is reversed and remanded.

Brown v. U.S. (MLW No. 73486/Case No. 17-1420 – 11 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, Stras, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri Smith, J. (Daniel Goldberg, AFPD, of Kansas City for appellant) (James J. Kelleher, AUSA, of Springfield for appellee)

RELATED: 8th Circuit splits on meaning of old statute