U.S. v. Hayes
Citation | 951 F.2d 707 |
Decision Date | 12 December 1991 |
Docket Number | No. 91-3344,91-3344 |
Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Richard V. HAYES, Defendant-Appellant. |
Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) |
James E. Rattan, Asst. U.S. Atty. (argued), Michael Burns (briefed), Office of the U.S. Atty., Columbus, Ohio, for plaintiff-appellee.
John P. Mahaffey (argued and briefed), Columbus, Ohio, for defendant-appellant.
Before MERRITT, Chief Judge, GUY, Circuit Judge; and ALDRICH, District Judge. *
The defendant, Richard Hayes, appealed from the District Court's imposition of a fifteen year prison sentence for a firearms possession charge. For the reasons set out below, we affirm the judgment of the District Court.
* * * * * *
Hayes pled guilty under a Rule 11 plea agreement to a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), a provision that makes it unlawful for a convicted felon to possess, ship, or receive a firearm in or affecting interstate commerce. The District Court imposed the fifteen year sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1), a mandatory penalty enhancement provision that requires a fifteen year sentence for a person convicted of § 922(g)(1) who "has three previous convictions ... for a violent felony ... committed on occasions different from one another." Hayes objected to his fifteen year sentence on the ground that he did not have "three previous convictions" within the meaning of § 924(e)(1). Hayes argued that his prior felony convictions should count as only one conviction because all the felony counts were adjudicated in one proceeding. The issue in the case is whether these convictions, conceded to have involved separate episodes but adjudicated in one proceeding, are "three previous convictions" within the meaning of § 924(e)(1).
The facts of the case were not in dispute. The defendant, out on parole from his prior felony convictions, engaged in a series of firearms purchases. He was indicted on four counts by a federal grand jury. He pled guilty to one count which charged him with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e)(1). The other counts were dismissed. The District Court imposed an enhanced sentence on the basis of three prior felony convictions, all prosecuted in state court under one indictment in one proceeding. In this prior state court adjudication Hayes was convicted of five counts of kidnapping, ten counts of rape, and four counts of aggravated robbery. This criminal conduct occurred on four different dates and involved five victims. The Government and the defendant agreed that the convictions were based on separate criminal episodes.
* * * * * *
The Sixth Circuit has interpreted § 924(e)(1) to require that for prior convictions to be used to enhance a § 922(g)(1) sentence under § 924(e)(1), those convictions must be based on separate criminal episodes. See United States v. Pedigo, 879 F.2d 1315, 1317 (6th Cir.1989) ( ). While the Sixth Circuit has not considered appeals that raised directly the separate adjudications issue we have reached results consistent with the view that as long as the convictions clearly involved separate criminal episodes, the convictions need not have been separately adjudicated. See United States v. Taylor, 882 F.2d 1018 (6th Cir.1989),cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2592, 110 L.Ed.2d 273 (1990) ( ). See also Pedigo, 879 F.2d at n. 3 ( ).
This case directly raised the question whether, when prior convictions concededly arise out of separate criminal episodes, the convictions must be adjudicated separately to support a § 924(e)(1) enhancement. The language of the current statute clearly requires the felonies used to enhance a § 922(g)(1) sentence to have been committed on separate occasions. The statute, however, imposes no conditions as to the timing of the convictions. We decline to read into the statute a condition requiring separate adjudications for the predicate felonies under the facts of this case when it is clear that the convictions involved violent felonies "committed on occasions different from one another." We are careful to note that this was not a case in which a series of criminal violations arose out of the same act or transaction so as not to constitute separate offenses. This case did not involve a set of facts suggesting a criminal spree or continuous activity, the parts of which constituted a common scheme or plan so as to raise doubt that the convictions involved separate criminal episodes under the statute. This interpretation of the statute is consistent with the result in Taylor and with the note in Pedigo. 1
We decide, on the facts of this case, that when it is clear that the defendant's prior convictions involved separate criminal episodes, § 924(e)(1) does not require the convictions to have been adjudicated separately. Because Hayes has "three previous convictions ... for a violent felony ... committed on occasions different from one another," he is subject to the sentencing enhancement under § 924(e)(1). The judgment of the District Court is affirmed.
* The Honorable Ann Aldrich, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, sitting by designation.
1 This reading of the statute is also consistent with the result reached by most other Courts of Appeals. Courts of Appeals that have considered the question generally have held that convictions supporting a § 924(e)(1) enhancement (or enhancement under a predecessor statute, § 1202(a)(1)), must involve separate criminal episodes but need not have been separately adjudicated. See United States v. Schieman, 894 F.2d 909 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 155, 112 L.Ed.2d 121 (1990) ( ); United States v. Herbert, 860 F.2d 620, 622 (5th Cir.1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1070, 109 S.Ct. 2074, 104 L.Ed.2d 639 (1989) ( ); United States v. Gillies, 851 F.2d 492 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 857, 109 S.Ct. 147, 102 L.Ed.2d 119 (1988) ( ); United States v. Rush, 840 F.2d 580, 581...
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