Source: http://openjurist.org/394/f3d/578
Timestamp: 2015-10-14 04:10:53
Document Index: 663329945

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 922', '§ 924', '§ 922', '§ 922', '§ 924', '§ 4']

394 F3d 578 United States v. J Sprouse | OpenJurist
394 F. 3d 578 - United States v. J Sprouse HomeFederal Reporter, Third Series394 F.3d
394 F3d 578 United States v. J Sprouse 394 F.3d 578
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee,v.Jessie J. SPROUSE, Appellant.
No. 03-4017.
Michelle M. Law, Springfield, MO, argued, for appellant.
Richard E. Monroe, Asst. U.S. Atty., argued, Springfield, MO (J. Daniel Patterson, Special Asst. U.S. Atty., on the brief), for appellee.
Before RILEY, LAY, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
Jessie J. Sprouse (Sprouse) appeals the judgment and sentence of the district court1 following his conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The district court sentenced Sprouse to 260 months imprisonment. Sprouse contends the district court erred by ruling his two prior felony convictions for thefts of motor vehicles constituted (1) crimes of violence under the United States Sentencing Guidelines (Guidelines), and (2) violent felonies for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B). We affirm.
On August 29, 2002, Springfield, Missouri, police officers stopped a vehicle for failing to display a front license plate. Sprouse was a front-seat passenger in the vehicle. A search of the vehicle uncovered a Jennings Firearms Bryco, Model 59 MM, 9 millimeter pistol on the rear passenger-side floorboard. After the vehicle's occupants denied owning the gun, a fingerprint was removed from the magazine of the pistol and later identified as Sprouse's fingerprint. Because Sprouse was a felon, he was prohibited from possessing firearms.
The government charged Sprouse with being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). The indictment also cited four previous felony offenses committed by Sprouse, two of which involved the theft of motor vehicles.
The U.S. Probation Office prepared a presentence investigation report (PSR), which reported Sprouse was sentenced to four years in prison in 1991 for stealing a car and a pickup truck from an auto dealership in New Madrid, Missouri, and driving the vehicles to Memphis, Tennessee, where Sprouse was apprehended. In 1995, Sprouse received five years in prison for stealing a pickup truck and a .30-.30 rifle and then damaging the truck by shooting into it. In 1997, Sprouse received three years in prison for exhibiting a sawed-off shotgun in an angry or threatening manner. The PSR recommended a base offense level of 24, because Sprouse violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e)(1). The PSR also recommended the district court sentence Sprouse as an armed career criminal under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) and U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4,