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Begay Has No Impact on ACCA Listed Offenses

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Thompson: Thompson pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. At sentencing, the Government argued that his six prior North Carolina convictions for "breaking or entering" were crimes of violence and thus Thompson should be sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal. The district court disagreed, concluding that under the Supreme Court's decision in Begay "violent felonies" under the ACCA must have "an element that demonstrates the likelihood that an assailant would come in contact with another person" and that Thompson's prior convictions did not meet that test. The district court sentenced Thompson to 92 months in prison.The Government appealed and the Fourth Circuit unanimously reversed. The court noted that in pre-Begay cases (Bowden and Thompson) it had held that North Carolina "breaking or entering" convictions were violent felonies under the ACCA...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on December 08, 2009 (boomark / email).