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Failure to Stop Is An ACCA Predicate Offense

By Shari Allison

US v West, 2008 WL 5158599 (Dec. 10, 2008) (published): The Court holds that defendant's prior Utah conviction for failing to stop a vehicle at a police-officer's command is a predicate offense for sentencing pursuant to the Armed Career Criminal Act. Applying Begay v. US, 128 S.Ct. 1581 (2008), but relying on many of the escape cases and the usual "powder-keg" rationale, the Court concluded that failure to stop categorically presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another for purposes of ACCA. The Court declined to find that the offense was not sufficiently similar to the other listed crimes and refused to limit the residual clause to property type crimes. Instead, it held the failure-to-stop offense was "sufficiently similar to the offenses enumerated in § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii)" because "it ?typically involves purposeful, violent, and aggressive conduct...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on December 12, 2008 (boomark / email).