United States v. Verwiebe

The Bay Mills Tribal Police Department broadcast a lookout notice for Verwiebe after it received a report that he had assaulted his girlfriend. When officers located Verwiebe, he pulled a knife from his waistband, raised it over his head, and threatened to kill the officers. The officers eventually got control of him with the help of a bystander. In the police car, Verwiebe continued to threaten the officers and even spat on them. Verwiebe pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. He was scored as a career offender under U.S.S.G. 4B1.1 based on his prior federal convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm, 18 U.S.C. 113(a)(3), and assault resulting in serious bodily injury, 18 U.S.C. 113(a)(6). At sentencing, the district court found that each conviction qualified as a crime of violence. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the sentence, applying the November 2016 Sentencing Manual. Because each crime combines common law assault with an additional element that, together, indicate “the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force,” both of them amounted to “crimes of violence” under Sentencing Guidelines section 4B1.2(a). View "United States v. Verwiebe" on Justia Law