U.S. Supreme Ct - June 23, 2016
by: Aalvarez • June 23, 2016 • no comments
DUII Blood Draws Require a Warrant or Exigency
Under the Fourth Amendment, obtaining a blood draw in a DUII investigation requires a search warrant or an exception to the warrant requirement beyond the search incident to arrest exception to the warrant requirement. Although states may punish motorists for a refusal to submit to a breath test based on implied consent laws, states may not criminally punish motorists for reviewing to submit to a blood test. Birchfield v. North Dakota
ACCA - State Crime Cannot Qualify as a Predicate Where Broader than Generic Crime
A state crime cannot qualify as a predicate conviction under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), which imposes a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence on a defendant convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm who has three prior state or federal convictions for a "violent felony," when the state crime is broader than the generic version of the crime.
Here, the defendant plead guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Because of his five prior Iowa burglary convictions, the government requested an ACCA sentence enhancement. Under the generic offense, burglary requires unlawful entry into a "building or other structure," while the Iowa statute reaches "any building, structure, [or] land, water, or air vehicle." The district court found that the Iowa state crimes were sufficient to serve as predicates under the ACCA and sentenced the defendant under ACCA. The Eighth Circuit affirmed, determining that even if "structures" and "vehicles" were not separate elements but alternative means of fulfilling a single element, the defendant was still allowed to receive an ACCA sentence because the record showed that the defendant had in fact burgled structures.
On review, the U.S. Supreme Court reverses the Eighth circuit, finding that because the Iowa statute was broader than the generic crime of burglary, that the convictions could not be used as predicates under ACCA. A state crime cannot qualify as an ACCA predicate if its elements are broader than those of a listed generic offense regardless of the defendant's actual conduct. Even if the defendant's conduct, in fact, fits within the definition of the generic offense, the mismatch of elements prevents him from receiving an ACCA sentence. Mathis v. United States
