United States v. Malone, No. 17-5727 (6th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseKnoxville police stopped Malone for driving with unlit tail lights. A handgun was found under Malone’s seat and he was charged as a felon-in-possession, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). A witness-intimidation charge was added after Malone asked his sister lie to officers about who bought the gun, section 1512(b)(1). He pleaded guilty. The Presentence Report classified Malone as an armed career criminal under the ACCA, 18 U.S.C. 924(e)(1),(e)(2)(B)(ii), based on three prior convictions for Tennessee aggravated assault, federal drug trafficking, and Kentucky second-degree burglary. He contested the classification, arguing that his Kentucky conviction was incorrectly considered an ACCA predicate offense because the crime’s elements are broader than generic burglary’s. The district court sentenced him to the ACCA-minimum 15 years’ imprisonment. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, holding that Kentucky second-degree burglary categorically qualifies as generic burglary under the ACCA. Generic burglary “contains at least the following elements: an unlawful or unprivileged entry into, or remaining in, a building or other structure, with intent to commit a crime.” In Kentucky, “[a] person is guilty of burglary in the second degree when, with the intent to commit a crime, he knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a dwelling.”
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