United States v. Sandoval, No. 11-1303 (10th Cir. 2012)
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The issue before the Tenth Circuit was whether a prior conviction constituted a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). Defendant Gerald Sandoval pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. At sentencing, he admitted to several previous felony convictions, two of which, he also admitted, were violent felonies as defined by the ACCA. But he claimed neither of the two remaining previous felonies considered by the court, first-degree criminal trespass and second-degree assault, were violent. Because either conviction could serve as the third "violent felony" triggering a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence under the ACCA, the Tenth Circuit addressed only one and concluded his conviction of second degree assault, even though mitigated by heat of
passion, is a violent crime for the purposes of the ACCA.
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