United States v. Hoyle, No. 11-3255 (10th Cir. 2012)
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Defendant-Appellant Taurus Hoyle appealed his conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and his sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”) to 262 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Defendant contended that the government offered insufficient evidence that he possessed a firearm, and that the charged possession affected interstate commerce. With regard to his sentence, Defendant argued that two of the three prior convictions relied upon by the district court did not qualify as predicate convictions for the ACCA’s enhanced sentencing provisions. Specifically, Defendant argued that the two Kansas convictions were not qualifying predicates because the convictions no longer disqualified him from possessing firearms as a matter of state law. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit agreed that Defendant's firearm possession rights were restored by operation of state law, thus precluding either of the two state convictions from qualifying as ACCA predicates. Therefore the Court vacated Defendant's sentence, and remanded the case to the district court for resentencing.
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