United States v. Melvin Shields, No. 22-1891 (8th Cir. 2023)
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Defendant pleaded guilty to a firearms offense. The district court imposed a sentence of thirty-two months’ imprisonment. Defendant argued that the district court committed procedural error in calculating his base offense level.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court explained that the guidelines define “crime of violence” as “any offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” Commentary to the guidelines provides that “crime of violence” includes the crimes of aiding and abetting or conspiring to commit such an offense. Defendant contends that carjacking does not categorically involve the use of threatened force because the “intimidation” element in the statute does not require a communicated threat of force. The Eighth Circuit has explained, however, that “bank robbery by intimidation requires proof that the victim ‘reasonably could infer a threat of bodily harm’ from the robber’s acts.” Defendant also argued that his conspiracy to commit carjacking offense does not qualify as a crime of violence because conspiracy offenses do not require the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force. His argument is foreclosed by the commentary to USSG Section 4B1.2 and the court’s precedent.
Court Description: [Colloton, Author, with Shepherd and Grasz, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Sentencing. The district court did not err in calculating defendant's base offense level; carjacking is a crime of violence for purposes of Guidelines Sec. 2K2.1(a)(4)(A); conspiracy to commit carjacking is also a crime of violence under Guidelines Sec. 4B1.2, as this court has held that the commentary to that section, which states that a crime of violence includes conspiring to commit such an offense, is valid.
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