United States v. Patterson

Akron police officers stopped Patterson’s car. They found an open container of alcohol and a stolen pistol inside it. In state court, Patterson pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and driving with a suspended license. In federal court, he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession. At his federal sentencing hearing, the court treated Patterson’s 2001 Ohio convictions for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon as crimes of violence under the Sentencing Guidelines but not under the Armed Career Criminal Act. The Sixth Circuit rejected Patterson’s double jeopardy argument under the separate-sovereigns doctrine, agreed that Patterson’s prior convictions were predicate crimes of violence under the Guidelines, but held that the court should have sentenced him as an armed career criminal, 18 U.S.C. 924(e)(1)). On remand, Patterson argued that the the government had not shown that his prior offenses were three separate offenses. Rejecting the argument, the court sentenced him to the mandatory minimum of 180 months under the ACCA. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, stating that it had issued a limited remand “for resentencing,” which “was not an invitation to start from scratch” because it had already concluded that Patterson’s convictions stemmed from robberies at three different places. In addition, Patterson’s separate-occasions argument was ripe when he first appealed. View "United States v. Patterson" on Justia Law