United States Ninth Circuit

The district court's determination that defendant's prior Delaware conviction for attempted rape in the fourth degree was a "crime of violence" warranting a 16-level enhancement under the Sentencing Guidelines is reversed and remanded for resentencing, where: 1) because Delaware's statutory definition of "substantial step" is materially different from and encompasses more conduct than the federal generic definition, the Delaware attempt statute criminalizes more conduct than the federal generic attempt definition, and the defendant’s prior state conviction therefore does not qualify as a federal generic attempt offense under the Taylor categorical approach; and 2) the modified categorical approach is not available in this context.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/14/2014
• Published 02/14/2014

Judges

• IKUTA

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel