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Shepard No Limit When Calculating Guidelines

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Dean: Dean pleaded guilty to one count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. The probation officer determined that Dean was a career offender based on two prior North Carolina convictions for drug offenses. Dean objected, arguing that the sentences for the two convictions were imposed on the same day and there was no evidence that the offenses were separated by an intervening arrest. Therefore, they should be treated as one prior conviction and he would not qualify as a career offender. The district court disagreed, based on bond documents and documents from the court clerk's office showing an intervening arrest. Dean was sentenced to 151 months in prison.On appeal, Dean challenged his classification as a career offender, particularly arguing that in making its decision the district court looked beyond the material approved by Shepard v...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).