Pinder: Granting SOS to 924(c) inmate

In In Re: Ricardo Pinder, Jr., No. 16-12084-J (June 1,2016), the Court granted leave to file a second or successive § 2255 motion to an inmate sentenced under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The Court noted that § 924(c) contained very similar language to § 924(e) – the statute at issue in Johnson, and both require higher sentences once a court decides that an offense is a “crime of violence.” Both statutes required a “categorical approach,” which assessed the “hypothetical risk posed by an abstract generic version of the offense.” The Court noted that “the law is unsettled on whether the rule announced in Johnson invalidates Pinder’s sentence.” The issue “must be decided in the first instance by the District Court.” Further, Pinder’s sentence appears to have been based on a conviction for conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, and the Eleventh Circuit has not yet decided whether this offense qualifies as a “crime of violence” under ACCA.