United States v. McFee, No. 16-1304 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and the district court sentenced him to 180 months in prison pursuant to the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e). On appeal, defendant argues that his prior conviction under Minn. Stat. 609.713, subd. 1 for making terroristic threats does not qualify as an ACCA predicate offense. The court concluded that the Minnesota terroristic threats statute's definition of "crime of violence" is not divisible. Minnesota's definition of "crime of violence" is broader than the ACCA requirement that a prior conviction have "as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another." Therefore, defendant's prior conviction for terroristic threats was not an ACCA predicate offense, and he does not qualify as an armed career criminal because he had only two prior ACCA predicate convictions. Accordingly, the court vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing.
Court Description: Murphy, Author, with Benton and Shepherd, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. Minnesota's terroristic threats statute's definition of "crime of violence" is not divisible and since it's definition of "crime of violence" is broader than the Armed Career Criminal Act's requirement that a prior conviction have "as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another," defendant's conviction for terroristic threats was not an ACCA predicate offense, and he does not qualify as an armed career criminal because, without this conviction, he had only two prior predicate convictions; sentence vacated, and the matter remanded for resentencing.
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