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Long and thoughtful ACCA analysis by Eleventh Circuit

By Douglas A. Berman

The Supreme Court in a series of recent opinions has provided new wisdom on what sorts of prior offenses qualify as a "violent felony? under the Armed Career Criminal Act.  Today, the Eleventh Circuit has a long and thoughtful discussion of all the new ACCA jurisprudence via a decision in US v. Harrison, No. 08-12636 (11th Cir. Feb. 19, 2009) (available here).  Harrison addresses the "question of whether a prior state conviction for violating subsection 2 of Florida?s willful fleeing statute" qualifies as a violent felony under ACCA.  Here is one of many statute observations from the Eleventh Circuit's analysis: A closer examination of James and Begay demonstrates that Chambersis simply the latest in a line of Supreme Court cases that have used hard data to assist in making risk assessments under the ACCA?s residual clause...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on February 19, 2009 (boomark / email).