Portee v. United States, No. 18-1034 (7th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CasePortee pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1) and faced a sentencing guidelines range of 63–78 months, with a statutory maximum of 120 months. The government sought sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. 924(e), citing: a 1983 Illinois attempted armed robbery conviction; a 1990 Indiana robbery conviction; a 2000 Indiana pointing a firearm conviction; and a 2006 Indiana intimidation conviction. Under ACCA, a defendant convicted of 18 U.S.C. 922(g) who has three prior violent felony convictions must be sentenced to at least 15 years. In 2010, the judge sentenced Portee, under ACCA, to 180 months. In 2015, the Supreme Court held, in “Johnson,” that ACCA’s residual clause was unconstitutionally vague; a felony is a “violent felony” under ACCA only if it satisfies ACCA’s elements clause (has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another) or is specifically enumerated as a violent felony. Portee moved to correct his sentence. The Seventh Circuit reversed the denial of relief. The elements of Indiana felony pointing do not require that the defendant used, attempted to use, or threatened to use physical force against the person of another. There are situations that could meet all the elements of Indiana felony intimidation by threat to commit a forcible felony that do not involve the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against another.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.