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Blue Lights. Again.

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Rivers: It's another blue light special in the Fourth Circuit. South Carolina has a felony offense of "failure to stop for a blue light" (i.e., not pulling over when the cops signal). In a case decided pre-Begay, the Fourth concluded that convictions for failure to stop for a blue light were "violent felon[ies]" under the Armed Career Criminal Act. In Roseboro, decided in the wake of Begay, the court concluded that convictions for failure to stop for a blue light would only be a violent felony in limited circumstances. In this case, decided in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Chambers, the court finally resolved that "under no circumstances is a violation of South Carolina's blue light statute a violent felony under the ACCA...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on March 08, 2010 (boomark / email).