United States v. Peterson, No. 17-30084 (9th Cir. 2018)
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to suppress a handgun found in his backpack. The panel held that the district court properly concluded that the handgun inevitably would have been discovered in an inventory search at the time of booking.
The panel reversed defendant's 48 month sentence, holding that defendant's prior first degree robbery conviction under Washington law was not a crime of violence under USSG 2K2.1(a)(2) and 4B1.2. The panel held that Washington's robbery statute was not a categorical match for the offenses of robbery and extortion enumerated in section 4B1.2(a)(2). However, the panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in applying a two-level enhancement for reckless endangerment during flight under USSG 3C1.2.
Court Description: Criminal Law The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of a motion to suppress, vacated a sentence, and remanded for resentencing in a case in which the defendant was convicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The panel held that in denying the defendant’s motion to suppress the handgun found in his backpack, the district court properly concluded that the handgun inevitably would have been discovered in an inventory search at the time of booking. The panel wrote that had the officers arrested the defendant only on misdemeanor warrants, and had they complied with Revised Code of Washington § 10.31.030, the defendant would have been able to post bail, thereby avoiding the booking and inventory search altogether. But because the officers would have booked the defendant on obstruction or resisting arrest charges absent discovery of the gun, and because bail had not yet been set on those charges, the defendant would have been taken into custody upon booking, and his possessions would have been inventoried at that time. The panel held that the district court erred in treating the defendant’s first-degree robbery conviction under Revised Code of Washington § 9A.56.190 as a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. §§ 2K2.1(a)(2) and 4B1.2. The panel
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