Source: http://virginiafederallawyers.blogspot.com/2014/02/federal-dui-ticket-in-virginia-lawyers_28.html
Timestamp: 2018-10-24 00:17:21
Document Index: 147626199

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 66', '§ 924', '§ 922', '§ 924', '§ 924', '§ 924']

The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a determination that defendant's prior ticket for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) convictions under N.M. Stat. Ann. § 66-8-102 were "violent felonies" as 18 U.S.C.S. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii) of the Armed Career Criminal Act defined it. On defendant's petition, certiorari was granted.
Federal law prohibits a previously convicted felon from possessing a firearm. 18 U.S.C.S. § 922(g)(1). A related provision provides for a prison term of up to 10 years for an ordinary offender. 18 U.S.C.S. § 924(a)(2). The Armed Career Criminal Act imposes a more stringent 15-year mandatory minimum sentence on an offender who has three prior convictions for a violent felony or a serious drug offense. 18 U.S.C.S. § 924(e)(1). Driving under the influence of alcohol differs from 18 U.S.C.S. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii)'s example crimes -- burglary, arson, extortion, and crimes involving the use of explosives -- in at least one pertinent, and important, respect. The listed crimes all typically involve purposeful, "violent," and "aggressive" conduct. That conduct is such that it makes more likely that an offender, later possessing a gun, will use that gun deliberately to harm a victim. Crimes committed in such a purposeful, violent, and aggressive manner are potentially more dangerous when firearms are involved. And such crimes are characteristic of the armed career criminal, the eponym of the statute.