Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals - Published Opinions

Monday, July 11, 2016

Parker: Florida burglary may not qualify, post Descamps, under ACCA

In In re: Leslie Parker, No. 16-13814-J (July 7, 2016), the Court granted leave to file a second or successive post-Johnson motion under § 2255. At Parker’s sentencing, he qualified under ACCA based in part on a 1983 Florida conviction for burglary of a dwelling. The district court did not specifically address whether it was relying on the now-invalidated residual clause. The Court recognized that in United States v. Weeks, it had determined that a Florida burglary conviction constituted an ACCA predicate based on the enumerated clause. However, Weeks predated Descamps, and it is therefore not a binding precedent that holds that Florida burglary is divisible under Descamps. Accordingly, Parker had made out a prima facie case. The Court noted that the PSI indicated that Parker had additional prior convictions that were not addressed at sentencing. But the government could now waive reliance on these other convictions, and the Court therefore did not address them.