United States v. Carlos Antonio German

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
United States v. Carlos Antonio German, 627 F. App'x 908 (11th Cir. 2015)

United States v. Carlos Antonio German

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Carlos German was sentenced to 180-months imprisonment, the mandatory minimum sentence required by the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1), after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The district court sentenced German under the ACCA after finding that he had three pri- or convictions, one of which, attempted burglary of an unoccupied structure in violation of Fla. Stat. § 810.02, qualified as a violent felony under the residual clause of the ACCA. German appeals his sentence, arguing that the district court erred in applying a sentencing enhancement under the ACCA because the residual clause of the ACCA is unconstitutionally vague and because his prior conviction for attempted burglary cannot be a .predicate “violent felony” under the enumerated offenses clause of the ACCA. The government concedes that the residual clause of the ACCA is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Johnson v. United States, 576 U.S. —, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 2557-58, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), but contends that attempted burglary as defined, by Florida qualifies as a predicate “violent felony” under the enumerated offenses clause of the ACCA.

After review of the parties’ briefs and the record on appeal, we conclude that the district court erred in sentencing German based on his previous attempted burglary conviction under the now-unconstitutional residual clause of the ACCA. He must be resentenced without reference to the residual clause. We leave it to the district court in the first instance to determine whether a sentencing enhancement may be sustained in these circumstances based upon another clause of the ACCA.

VACATED AND REMANDED.

Reference

Full Case Name
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Carlos Antonio GERMAN, A.K.A. Platano, Defendant-Appellant
Status
Unpublished