Weeks v. United States, No. 17-10049 (11th Cir. 2019)
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The Eleventh Circuit previously concluded that petitioner had made a prima facie showing that his prior convictions for resisting arrest and assault and battery—which had served as predicates for the enhancement of his federal sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA)—no longer qualified as violent felonies under the ACCA in light of the ruling of the Supreme Court in Samuel Johnson v. United States that the ACCA's residual clause is unconstitutionally vague. After sentencing but during the pendency of petitioner's direct appeal, there were significant developments relevant to the issue of whether the residual clause was the sole basis for his ACCA enhancement.
At issue in this appeal was when a claimant challenged his ACCA enhancement on direct appeal, whether the relevant time frame for this inquiry is limited to the sentencing hearing or if it extends through the claimant's direct appeal. The court held that, where a claimant challenged his ACCA enhancement on direct appeal, the relevant time frame to consider when determining whether the residual clause solely caused the enhancement of a claimant's sentence extends through direct appeal. In this case, the court held that petitioner carried his burden of showing that it is more likely than not that the residual clause, and only the residual clause, caused his sentence to be enhanced and that he no longer has three ACCA predicate convictions. Accordingly, the court reversed the district court's order denying his 28 U.S.C. 2255 motion and remanded for resentencing.
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