United States v. Misleveck, No. 13-1855 (7th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a gun, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The judge found that he had three prior convictions of “violent” felonies under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. 924(e), and was subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. The defendant argued that the Wisconsin arson statute under which he was previously convicted does not punish only a “violent” felony within the meaning of the ACC A. The statute provides that “whoever, by means of fire, intentionally damages any property of another without the person’s consent, if the property is not a building and has a value of $100 or more, is guilty of a Class I felony,” and carries a maximum sentence of 3½ years. According to the presentence report the defendant stole a car from a parking lot and torched it in a field to erase his fingerprints. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The circumstances of the offense are not relevant, because in deciding whether a conviction represents a “violent felony,” courts look only at the statutory elements of the offense. The ACCA defines “violent felony” as any crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year that “is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.”
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