In U.S. v. Rainier, No. 09-14014 (Aug. 31, 2010), the Court held that a defendant’s two prior Alabama burglaries each qualified as a “violent felony” for purposes of his sentence enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA).
The Court agreed with Rainier that his prior Alabama third-degree burglary was not a “generic burglary” because Alabama defined this offense to include burglary of a vehicle, aircraft or watercraft – whereas a generic burglary involves the burglary of a building. However, under the “modified categorical approach,” a prior non-generic burglary can still qualify as a violent felony if certain record documents established that the crime involved the burglary of a building. Here, the charging documents showed that Rainier burglarized a service station and a shoe store. Thus, the offenses involved a building, and therefore qualified as violent felonies.
