U.S. v. Becker

• Citation: 919 F.2d 568
• Decision Date: 20 November 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89-50240,89-50240
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jeffrey Dean BECKER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)

Page 568

919 F.2d 568

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jeffrey Dean BECKER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 89-50240.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Aug. 9, 1990.

Decided Nov. 20, 1990.

Carol A. Klauschie, Deputy Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, Cal., for defendant-appellant.

Brenda K. Sannes, Asst. U.S. Atty., Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Before REINHARDT and LEAVY, Circuit Judges, and KING ^*, Senior District Judge.

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge:

OVERVIEW

On December 2, 1988, Jeffrey Dean Becker was indicted on four counts of bank Becker appeals his sentence, contending that the district court erroneously classified him as a career offender. He challenges the district court's finding that each of his two prior convictions under California law--for burglary of a residence during the daytime--counts as a "crime of violence" as that term is used in the Sentencing Guidelines. We affirm.

robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2113(a). He pled guilty to two of those counts. At his sentencing hearing on April 24, 1989, the other two counts were dismissed. Based upon Becker's prior criminal history, the district court found that he was a "career offender" as that term is used in United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual ("Sentencing Guidelines" or "Guidelines") Sec. 4B1.1 (Jan.1988). Becker was then sentenced to two concurrent one hundred and twenty month sentences, to be followed by a five-year period of supervised relief.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

When Congress created the United States Sentencing Commission, it required the Commission to ensure that the Sentencing Guidelines specify prison sentences "at or near the maximum term authorized" for certain repeat offenders. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 994(h) (West 1988). To implement this policy, the Sentencing Commission enacted section 4B1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines, which includes a table listing specific offense levels for career offenders. These offense levels are based upon the maximum statutory penalty that the defendant could receive for his crime. Section 4B1.1 specifies that if a career offender's otherwise applicable offense level is lower than his career offender offense level, the career offense level applies. In addition, a defendant classified as a career offender is placed in the highest criminal history category. ¹

Section 4B1.1 also defines the term "career offender." Becker was sentenced under the 1988 version of the Guidelines. Section 4B1.1 provided in part then, as it does now:

A defendant is a career offender if (1) the defendant was at least eighteen years old at the time of the instant offense, (2) the instant offense of conviction is a felony that is either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense, and (3) the defendant has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.

The 1988 version of the Guidelines provided that the term "crime of violence" was to be defined as under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 16. Guidelines Sec. 4B1.2. Thus, under the 1988 Guidelines, a crime of violence was:

(a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or

(b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.

18 U.S.C. Sec. 16. (West 1988) ²

The district court found that each of Becker's 1984 and 1985 California convictions

                for first degree burglary fit 18 U.S.C. Sec. 16(b)'s definition of the statutory definition of a "crime of violence."    Becker argues that this determination was erroneous because, in his view, to the extent that the definition of burglary in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 16 includes burglary, it only includes common-law burglary--i.e., nighttime entry of the dwelling of another with intent to commit a felony.  The California statute under which Becker's burglary convictions were obtained did not require the state to prove as an element of the offense that the burglary took place at night.  See Cal. Penal Code Secs. 459-460 (West 1988).  Thus, according to Becker, his California burglary convictions are not crimes of violence under the career offender provision of the Sentencing Guidelines
                

DISCUSSION

The district court's determination that Becker is a career offender, as an interpretation of the Guidelines, is subject to de novo review. United States v. Williams, 891 F.2d 212, 214 (9th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1496, 108 L.Ed.2d 631 (1990).

As a preliminary matter, we note that we do not look to the specific conduct which occasioned Becker's burglary convictions, but only to the statutory definition of the crime. We thereby adopt the so-called "categorical approach" that the Supreme Court has held is appropriate for determining whether someone is a career criminal under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924. See Taylor v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 2159, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990). See also United States v. Sherbondy, 865 F.2d 996, 1006-10 (9th Cir.1988).

The same considerations that led the Supreme Court to adopt the categorical approach under the Armed Career Criminal Act apply here. The Taylor Court first observed that the statutory language under interpretation there referred to " 'a person who ... has three previous convictions,' " (quoting 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e)(1)), rather than a person who has committed three previous violent crimes. The Court went on to note that as a practical matter it would be difficult and potentially unfair to re-litigate each of a defendant's prior crimes as part of his sentencing determination. 110 S.Ct. at 2159. ³ Each of these rationales is applicable here. First, section 4B1.1 of the Guidelines, like the Armed Career Criminal Act, does not speak of the defendant's past conduct. Instead, it applies to a defendant who "has at least two felony convictions." In addition, the same practical considerations that led to the adoption of the categorical approach in Taylor are present here.

Our decision to employ a categorical approach does not by itself settle the question of what constitutes a "category" of criminal conduct. Here too, however, our prior interpretation of the Armed Career Criminal Act is instructive. In United States v. Potter, 895 F.2d 1231, 1237 n. 4 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 3247, 111 L.Ed.2d 757 (1990), we noted that the categorical approach looks to the "particular provision of a statute" under which the defendant was convicted. See United States v. Selfa, 918 F.2d 749 (9th Cir.1990), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Aug. 10, 1990) (applying the categorical approach in a case involving the career offender provisions of the Guidelines).

The particular provision of the California Penal Code under which both of Becker's first degree burglary convictions were obtained was section 460, which, during the relevant time period, provided that "[e]very burglary of an inhabited dwelling house or trailer coach as defined by the Vehicle Code, or the inhabited portion of any other building, is burglary of the first Thus, we are left with the question whether Becker's offense--the daytime entry of a dwelling with the intent to commit a larceny or any felony--constitutes a crime of violence as defined in 18 U.S.C. Sec. 16.

                degree."    Cal. Penal Code Sec. 460 (West 1988).  Burglary was in turn defined generically by section 459 of the California Penal Code as entry into any of a variety of structures, vehicles, and vessels with the intent to commit a larceny or any felony. 4   The California courts have held that first degree burglary is burglary of a residence--a distinct and more serious offense than other burglaries.  See People v. Wilson, 208 Cal.App.3d 611, 615, 256 Cal.Rptr. 422, 425 (1989).  The distinction is based upon the higher risk to personal safety that residential burglaries create.  See id.    Since 1876, California law has not required that the entry be made in the nighttime for it to be deemed burglary.  Cal. Penal Code Ann. Sec. 459 (West 1988)
                

I

We begin our inquiry with the language of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 16(b). It provides that a "crime of violence" is any felony that inherently involves "a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense." First degree burglary under California law involves just such a risk. Any time a burglar enters a dwelling with felonious or larcenous intent there is a risk that in the course of committing the crime he will encounter one of its lawful occupants, and use physical force against that occupant either to accomplish his illegal purpose or to escape apprehension. ⁵

II

The conclusion that daytime burglary of a residence was intended by the Sentencing Commission to count as a violent offense for sentence enhancement purposes is supported by the commentary to the Guidelines. Application Note 1 to U.S.S.G. Sec. 4B1.2 (1988) states that "[c]onviction for burglary of a dwelling would be covered; conviction for burglary of other structures would not be covered." The Note draws the same distinction between residential and non-residential burglaries as California law. Residential burglaries are treated as As the Supreme Court recognized in Taylor, the majority of states have departed from the common-law definition of burglary because "[t]he arcane distinctions embedded in the common-law definition have little relevance to modern law-enforcement concerns." 110 S.Ct. at 2155. The Court treated the distinction between daytime and nighttime burglary as one of these arcane distinctions. See id. at n. 7. The fact that Application Note 1 to section 4B1.2 does not...