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No per se rule that a prior conviciton under 4B1.1 must be established by a "certified" record

By Candace Hom, Melinda Ghilardi, Nancy Rimmer, Sarah Gannett, Renee Pietropaolo and Tieffa Harper

In United States v. Howard, No. 08-4748 (E.D.PA 03/19/10), the Court of Appeals affirmed the district court?s reference to ?uncertified documents? in its determination that Mr. Howard was a career offender under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1.Howard entered a guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school. At sentencing he objected to application of the career offender enhancement based on two prior drug convictions. As to one of the prior convictions, the district court relied on an incomplete certified conviction record and an uncertified Municipal Court document which indicated that Howard was convicted of felony drug conspiracy (no sentencing transcript was available)...continue to full post

Full post as published by Third Circuit Blog on March 22, 2010 (boomark / email).