Villanueva v. United States

In 1999, Villanueva was indicted for unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). The indictment alleged two prior convictions for narcotics violations, a third for first-degree assault, Conn. Gen. Stat. 53a‐59(a), and a fourth for assault on an officer. After a jury found Villanueva guilty, a presentence report recommended sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. 924(e) minimum 15-year sentence provision. The report reflected that the first-degree assault conviction resulted from Villanueva’s firing a gun three or four times and hitting his victim in the shoulder and calculated a Guidelines range of 262‐327 months. The court concluded that each of the narcotics convictions was a “serious drug offense” and at least one of the assault convictions was a “violent felony” under ACCA without specifying whether the elements clause or the residual clause of ACCA applied. In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that the “residual clause” of the ACCA was unconstitutionally vague. In 2016, the district court vacated Villanueva’s sentence and sentenced him to time served. The Second Circuit disagreed and remanded, finding that the Connecticut statute, analyzed under the so‐called “modified categorical approach,” has as an element, the use of “physical force” as federal law uses in defining “violent felony.” View "Villanueva v. United States" on Justia Law