United States v. Hennessee, No. 18-5786 (6th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseHennessee pled guilty as a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). The government sought an enhanced penalty under the Armed Career Criminal Act, section 924(e)(1) based on Hennessee’s three prior convictions for violent felonies. Hennessee objected that the government could not prove that two of his prior offenses were committed on different occasions. The district court agreed with Hennessee, finding that Sixth Circuit precedent precluded its review of non-elemental facts when conducting the different-occasions analysis. The Sixth Circuit vacated and remanded for resentencing with the ACCA enhancement. A sentencing court may consider non-elemental facts such as times, locations, and victims in documents described in the Supreme Court’s “Shepard” decision when conducting the different-occasions analysis. The facts of Hennessee’s prior convictions—as established in Shepard-approved documents—indicate that he committed those violent felonies on occasions different from one another. The government proved that Hennessee’s prior convictions qualify him for a sentence enhancement as an armed career criminal.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.