Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-09-02545/USCOURTS-ca8-09-02545-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
John Thomas Olson
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

1

The Honorable William Jay Riley became Chief Judge of the United States

Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on April 1, 2010.

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

 ___________

 No. 09-2545

 ___________

United States of America, *

*

Appellee, *

* Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

* District of Minnesota.

John Thomas Olson, *

* [UNPUBLISHED]

Appellant. *

___________

Submitted: March 12, 2010

Filed: April 14, 2010

___________

Before RILEY,1

 Chief Judge, BRIGHT, and WOLLMAN, Circuit Judges.

___________

PER CURIAM.

John Thomas Olson appeals his sentence, contending that his two previous

Minnesota convictions for fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle do not constitute

crimes of violence and that the district court therefore erred when it sentenced him as

a career offender. 

Olson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to

distribute fifty grams or more of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1),

Appellate Case: 09-2545 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/14/2010 Entry ID: 3654533
-2-

841(b)(1)(A), and 846, and to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of

18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). At sentencing, the district court determined that Olson’s two

convictions for fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, in violation of Minnesota

Statutes § 609.487 subdivision 3, constituted crimes of violence under the United

States Sentencing Guidelines Manual (U.S.S.G.). This determination caused Olson

to be classified as a career offender, and it increased his base offense level for the

firearm conviction, his total offense level, and his criminal history category, resulting

in a guidelines range of 188 to 235 months’ imprisonment. After taking into account

Olson’s trial testimony against a co-defendant, the district court imposed a 100-month

sentence on the drug charge and a concurrent sixty-month sentence on the firearm

charge.

After Olson was sentenced, this court issued its opinion in United States v.

Tyler, 580 F.3d 722 (8th Cir. 2009), holding that the crime of fleeing a peace officer

in a motor vehicle, in violation of Minnesota Statutes § 609.487 subdivision 3, does

not constitute a “crime of violence” under the sentencing guidelines. Id. at 726. Thus,

Olson’s convictions for fleeing cannot serve as the basis for a greater base offense

level for the firearm conviction under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(2) or to classify him as a

career offender under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1. Although Olson was sentenced below the

guidelines range, we cannot discern what his sentence would have been had the

guidelines range been properly calculated. Accordingly, Olson’s sentence is vacated,

and the case is remanded for resentencing on the record already before the district

court.

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Appellate Case: 09-2545 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/14/2010 Entry ID: 3654533