Source: http://openjurist.org/951/f2d/457
Timestamp: 2015-08-30 06:14:18
Document Index: 11029742

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

951 F2d 457 United States v. M Bregnard | OpenJurist
951 F. 2d 457 - United States v. M Bregnard Home
951 F2d 457 United States v. M Bregnard 951 F.2d 457
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, Appellee,v.Dale M. BREGNARD, Defendant, Appellant.
No. 91-1381.
Heard Oct. 8, 1991.Decided Dec. 23, 1991.
Robert B. Mann, with whom Mann & Mitchell, Providence, R.I., was on brief for defendant, appellant.
Margaret E. Curran, Asst. U.S. Atty., with whom Lincoln C. Almond, U.S. Atty. and Edwin J. Gale, Asst. U.S. Atty., Providence, R.I., were on brief for plaintiff, appellee.
Dale Bregnard pled guilty to one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), which criminalizes the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Because Bregnard had at least three prior convictions for violent felonies, the government sought to enhance his sentence under the provisions of the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). The district court found that Bregnard had sufficient predicate crimes for the § 924(e) enhancement and therefore, it sentenced Bregnard to fifteen years without parole, followed by a three-year term of supervised release. Bregnard appeals and we affirm.
* On December 31, 1989, the police of Warren, Rhode Island received an anonymous tip that a man fitting Bregnard's description was at a bar in possession of a firearm. The police went to the bar and when they frisked Bregnard, they found a fully loaded, nine millimeter, semi-automatic pistol in a shoulder holster concealed beneath his jacket.
On January 30, 1990, Bregnard was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Rhode Island. The one-count indictment charged him with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). On May 15, 1990, the government filed an information charging that the defendant had four prior convictions for violent felonies and therefore qualified as an "armed career" criminal, subject to the enhancement provision of 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). The convictions used by the government were: (1) robbery in 1974; (2) breaking and entering in the night time with intent to commit larceny in 1974; (3) assault and battery in 1976; and (4) assault and battery in 1985.
Prior to sentencing, Bregnard filed a motion to dismiss the indictment and a supplemental motion in which he argued, among other things, that two of the predicate offenses--the breaking and entering conviction and the assault and battery convictions--were not within the purview of the § 924(e) enhancement. At sentencing, the district court relied on the presentence report to find that the two assault and battery convictions constituted predicate crimes for the § 924(e) enhancement because both offenses involved the threat or use of physical force on another. Although the district court judge did not specifically rule on whether the breaking and entering conviction was a proper predicate for the enhancement, he suggested that United States v. Patterson, 882 F.2d 595 (1st Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1027, 110 S.Ct. 737, 107 L.Ed.2d 755 (1990), foreclosed the issue and Bregnard's argument to the contrary.
On appeal, Bregnard raises two issues. First, he argues that the district court erred in finding that the government had proved three prior violent felonies as required under the provision of the enhancement statute, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e).1 Second, he claims that the enhancement of his sentence on the basis of state convictions labeled misdemeanors by the state, but punishable by a maximum term of more than two years imprisonment, is contrary to Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990), and amounts to a denial of the equal protection of the law.
The sentencing enhancement provision of the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) provides that:
In the case of a person who violates section 922(g) of this title and has three previous convictions by any court referred to in section 922(g