United States v. Myers, No. 18-5099 (6th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseMyers entered Sullivan’s home without permission, pointed a gun, and demanded drugs. The two went outside to Sullivan's car, where Sullivan saw her neighbor, Baker, and attempted to whisper to call the police. Myers grabbed Sullivan and threatened Baker. Baker ran away and called the police, who arrived and arrested Myers. Myers pleaded guilty as a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). The PSR recommended that Myers be sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e), based on his prior Tennessee convictions for aggravated assault and two separate initiations of a process intended to result in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Myers argued that initiating a process intended to result in the manufacture of methamphetamine is not an ACCA “serious drug” offense. The district court disagreed and sentenced him to the statutory mandatory minimum term of 180 months’ imprisonment. The Sixth Circuit affirmed. A state conviction qualifies as “a serious drug offense” if it involves "manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture or distribute, a controlled substance,” for which a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years or more is prescribed. Initiation of the methamphetamine manufacture process carries a maximum term of 10 years or more. The Tennessee legislature’s intent to criminalize steps in the methamphetamine manufacturing process, including actions short of the actual manufacture, does not remove the offenses from the ambit of the ACCA.
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