U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 2023

United States v. Dorothy Pearl Smith

United States v. Dorothy Pearl Smith
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit · Decided April 28, 2023

United States v. Dorothy Pearl Smith

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 19-10946 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/28/2023 Page: 1 of 3

[DO NOT PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 19-10946 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus DOROTHY PEARL SMITH,

Defendant-Appellant.

____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 3:17-cr-00246-BJD-JBT-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 19-10946 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/28/2023 Page: 2 of 3

2 Opinion of the Court 19-10946

Before ROSENBAUM, NEWSOM, and BLACK, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: Dorothy Smith appeals her 96-month sentence imposed af- ter pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e). Smith pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm after being convicted of at least one felony, including three convictions for aggravated assault, resulting in her classification as an armed career criminal under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). Smith asserts her prior Florida aggravated assault convictions do not qualify as violent fel- onies under the ACCA’s elements clause. Specifically, she con- tends the Florida aggravated assault statute criminalized reckless conduct, and thus the least culpable conduct criminalized was broader than the language of the ACCA’s elements clause. 1 We recently rejected this argument in Somers v. United States, No. 19-11484, 2023 WL 3067033 (11th Cir. Apr. 25, 2023).

After the Supreme Court held in Borden v. United States, 141 S. Ct. 1817, 1829-30 n.6 (2021), “that offenses that can be committed with a mens rea of recklessness do not satisfy the elements clause of the The ACCA defines a “violent felony” as “any crime punishable by imprison- ment for a term exceeding one year . . . that . . . has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of an- other[.]” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B). “This definition is often referred to as the ‘elements clause.’” Somers v. United States, No. 19-11484, 2023 WL 3067033, at *3 (11th Cir. Apr. 25, 2023).

USCA11 Case: 19-10946 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 04/28/2023 Page: 3 of 3

19-10946 Opinion of the Court 3 ACCA,” Somers, 2023 WL 3067033, at *4, this Court certified ques- tions to the Florida Supreme Court regarding the mens rea re- quired for a Florida aggravated assault conviction, id. at *2. The Florida Supreme Court held the Florida aggravated assault statute demands the specific intent to direct a threat at another person and therefore cannot be violated by a reckless act. Somers v. United States, 355 So. 3d 887, 891 (Fla. 2022). Based on the Florida Su- preme Court’s answer to our certified questions that aggravated assault under Florida law requires a mens rea of at least knowing conduct, we held aggravated assault under Florida law qualifies as an ACCA predicate offense under Borden. Somers, 2023 WL 3067033, at *1.

After review, 2 we affirm Smith’s sentence. Smith’s argu- ment is foreclosed by our precedent in Somers. The district court did not err in classifying Smith as an armed career criminal because Smith’s Florida aggravated assault convictions qualify as violent fel- onies.

AFFIRMED.

2 “We review de novo whether a defendant’s prior convictions qualify as vi- olent felonies under the ACCA.” United States v. Hill, 799 F.3d 1318, 1321 (11th Cir. 2015).

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.