UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 09-4564

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

STEVEN CROCKETT, SR.,

Defendant – Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of 

Maryland, at Baltimore. Andre M. Davis, District Judge. (1:06-

cr-00445-AMD-1)

Submitted: March 3, 2011 Decided: March 21, 2011

Before MOTZ, AGEE, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

James Wyda, Federal Public Defender, Sapna Mirchandani, Staff 

Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellant. Rod J. 

Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Bonnie S. Greenberg, 

Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for 

Appellee. 

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
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PER CURIAM:

Steven Crockett, Sr., pled guilty pursuant to a plea 

agreement to one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted 

felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C.A. § 922(g)(1) (West 2000 

& Supp. 2010). Based, in part, on his prior Maryland conviction 

for second degree rape, in violation of Md. Code Ann., Crim. Law

§ 3-304 (LexisNexis Supp. 2010), Crockett was sentenced under 

the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C.A. § 924(e) (West 2000 & 

Supp. 2010) ("ACCA"), to 210 months in prison. Crockett appeals 

his sentence, asserting that the district court erred when it 

determined that his prior rape conviction qualified as a violent 

felony under the ACCA. Finding no error, we affirm.

We discern no error in the district court’s 

determination that under the facts of this case, Crockett’s rape 

conviction was a proper ACCA predicate offense. In particular, 

after recognizing the ambiguity created by Maryland’s second 

degree rape statute, the district court appropriately allowed 

the Government to introduce into evidence the transcript of 

Crockett’s state guilty plea colloquy to determine whether 

Crockett “necessarily admitted” facts amounting to a violent 

felony under the ACCA. See Johnson v. United States, 

___ U.S. ___, 130 S. Ct. 1265, 1273 (2010) (recognizing that the 

district court may look to plea colloquy transcripts to 
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determine whether a prior conviction constitutes an ACCA 

predicate under the modified categorical approach). 

We also conclude that the district court correctly 

observed that while Crockett may have initially been reluctant 

to admit to the State’s factual summary for his rape, which 

indicated that Crockett’s rape was forceful, Crockett ultimately 

conceded that he was guilty of the crime summarized by the State 

and was “fine with [his] plea.” Although the state court 

invited Crockett to comment on the Government’s factual 

scenario, Crockett chose not to do so. We reject Crockett’s 

assertion that this Court’s holding in United State v. Alston, 

611 F.3d 219, 220-21 (4th Cir. 2010) (holding that a prior 

conviction for Maryland second-degree assault did not constitute 

an ACCA violent felony where the defendant entered an Alford*

Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment. 

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal 

contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the 

court and argument would not aid the decisional process. 

plea), requires a different result.

AFFIRMED

 * North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 38 (1970) (finding 

no constitutional error when a defendant waives trial and 

consents to punishment without admitting guilt to the charge).