United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky · 1997-04-29
Case and law context
Role: comparator; posture: civil; 28 U.S.C. 2241 habeas petition by a federal prisoner convicted of 18 U.S.C. 922(g) (felon in possession), challenging the Bureau of Prisons' classification of that offense as a "crime of violence" (hence not a "nonviolent offense" eligible for early release under 18 U.S.C. 3621(e)(2)(B)); magistrate judge's report adopted as the opinion of the court; petition denied. No 924(c) charge exists: the BOP program statement borrowed the 924(c)(3) definition; result: not-decided; claim: (c)(3)
Instances and excluded annotation blocks
| Case | Element | Holding and scope | Variant | Exact source quotations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /f-supp/966/0483-01 — United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky · 1997 | Felony with the required force element | not_reached Excluded from merits counts comparator / merits claim: (c)(3); theory: borrowed definition: BOP Program Statement 5162.02 uses the 924(c)(3) "crime of violence" definition to construe "nonviolent offense" in 18 U.S.C. 3621(e)(2)(B); subject: theory=borrowed definition: BOP Program Statement 5162.02 uses the 924(c)(3) "crime of violence" definition to construe "nonviolent offense" in 18 U.S.C. 3621(e)(2)(B) The court does NOT decide whether felon-in-possession is a 924(c)(3) crime of violence. It holds that (i) judicial review of the BOP's early-release decisions is limited to constitutional claims and conflict with well-settled case law, (ii) case law construing 924(c)(3) / 924(e) / the Guidelines for sentencing does not bind the BOP when it borrows the same words for 18 U.S.C. 3621, and (iii) no binding Sixth Circuit or Supreme Court authority holds 922(g) nonviolent. The fact lines are the agency's classification (polarity = toward "is a crime of violence"), not conduct of the petitioner and not a finding of the court. The rule lines are about 3621, not about 924(c). | borrowed-definition/felon-in-possession-for-early-release-eligibility | Your current offense of Possession of a Firearm by a Felon is determined to be a crime of violence as defined by the statute as it poses a substantial risk that physical force might be used against the person or property of another.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_966.jsonl#/f-supp/966/0483-01; Unicode character offsets [13749:13981] (end exclusive); SHA-256 cc98346f0d17908b87daa37b5fb889ee66155440897698bcb44fcce5fc689286.The next section of PS 5162.02 is titled “CRIMINAL OFFENSES THAT ARE CRIMES OF VIOLENCE IN ALL CASES,” and a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) is listed as one such offense.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_966.jsonl#/f-supp/966/0483-01; Unicode character offsets [11696:11867] (end exclusive); SHA-256 cc98346f0d17908b87daa37b5fb889ee66155440897698bcb44fcce5fc689286.It would be a “foolish consistency” to hold that a crime of violence for sentencing purposes must be the same as a crime of violence for early release purposes — even using the same definition.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_966.jsonl#/f-supp/966/0483-01; Unicode character offsets [27228:27421] (end exclusive); SHA-256 cc98346f0d17908b87daa37b5fb889ee66155440897698bcb44fcce5fc689286.The statute does not mandate a categorical approach to the determination of what is a “nonviolent offense.”Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_966.jsonl#/f-supp/966/0483-01; Unicode character offsets [32231:32338] (end exclusive); SHA-256 cc98346f0d17908b87daa37b5fb889ee66155440897698bcb44fcce5fc689286.Moreover, even if this Court were to subscribe to the Ninth Circuit’s view, the Sixth Circuit has not held that in the context of § 924(c)(3) a § 922(g) offense is nonviolent.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_966.jsonl#/f-supp/966/0483-01; Unicode character offsets [29344:29519] (end exclusive); SHA-256 cc98346f0d17908b87daa37b5fb889ee66155440897698bcb44fcce5fc689286.Thus, in this Circuit, the BOP’s interpretation does not contravene well-settled ease law and the conclusion mandated in Downey by prior decisions of the Ninth Circuit regarding § 922(g) is thus not mandated here.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_966.jsonl#/f-supp/966/0483-01; Unicode character offsets [29520:29733] (end exclusive); SHA-256 cc98346f0d17908b87daa37b5fb889ee66155440897698bcb44fcce5fc689286. |