United States Supreme Court

Then Ninth Circuit's application of a modified categorical approach to defendant's prior conviction for burglary under California Penal Code section 459, and its determination that said conviction could serve as a predicate offense for the purposes of an enhanced sentence under The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), which increases the sentences of certain federal defendants who have three prior convictions "for a violent felony," including "burglary, arson, or extortion," is reversed, where: 1) the modified categorical approach does not apply to statutes like California Penal Code section 459 for burglary that contain a single, indivisible set of elements; and 2) because generic unlawful entry is not an element, or an alternative element of, section 459, a conviction under that statute is never for generic burglary, and thus defendant's ACCA enhancement was improper.

Appellate Information

• Decided 06/20/2013
• Published 06/20/2013

Judges

• KAGAN

Court

• United States Supreme Court

Counsel