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Alexander: Firing Firearm from Vehicle is "Crime of Violence"

By Tim Cone

In U.S. v. Alexander, No. 08-17062 (June 25, 2010), the Court held that a prior conviction under Fla. Stat. § 790.15(2) fo discharging a firearm from a vehicle within 1,000 feet of another person qualified as a crime of violence under the career offender provisions of the Sentencing Guidelines. The Court also rejected Alexander?s challenge to the district court?s refusal to award credit for time served in state custody, noting that this issue must first be raised by administrative challenge to the Bureau of Prisons? computation of his sentence.After reviewing Begay and Chambers, the Court noted that courts must use a ?categorical? approach to the ?crime of violence? issue, looking to the elements of the offense. Here, the offense was more serious than the Florida misdemeanor of merely discharging a firearm in a public place, a distinction that ?suggests that this provision targets violent and aggressive conduct, not the mere careless use of a firearm...continue to full post

Full post as published by Defense Newsletter Blog on June 28, 2010 (boomark / email).