United States v. Nelson, No. 13-11537 (11th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseDefendants Nelson and Snow appealed their sentences imposed under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e)(1), after they each pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Both defendants have prior convictions for third-degree burglary under Alabama law. The court concluded that defendants' third-degree burglary convictions do not qualify as a violent felony under the elements-based definition; the court has already held that convictions under the same Alabama statute do not qualify under the enumerated-offenses definition; and the Supreme Court declared the residual clause of the ACCA to be unconstitutionally vague in Johnson v. United States. Accordingly, the court vacated the sentences and remanded for resentencing.
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