United States v. Robinson, No. 16-30096 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit vacated defendant's 90 month sentence after he was convicted of two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms. The panel held that defendant's prior Washington crime of second-degree assault was not categorically a crime of violence where it criminalized more conduct than the generic federal definition of a crime of violence under USSG 2K2.1. The panel also held that the Washington statute was indivisible, because the statute defined a single crime—second-degree assault—and provided seven different "means" by which a person could commit that crime. Accordingly, the panel remanded for resentencing.
Court Description: Criminal Law Vacating a sentence and remanding for resentencing, the panel held that the Washington crime of second-degree assault, Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.36.021, is a “crime of violence” within the meaning of U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1. The government did not dispute, and the panel agreed, that subsection 9A.36.021(1)(e) criminalizes conduct that is not covered by section 2K2.1’s definition of “crime of violence.” The panel held that section 9A.36.021 is indivisible, as it defines a single crime and provides seven different “means” by which a person can commit that crime. The panel concluded that the district court therefore erred in determining that the defendant’s prior second-degree assault conviction was for a crime of violence under section 2K2.1.
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