Opinion ID: 543631
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Nature of Offense

Text: 37 Hope contends that, even if this court should find that he was actually convicted of the 1975 burglary, the nature of the offense, a commercial burglary, should not serve as an enhancement offense under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e). Hope acknowledges that there is Seventh Circuit authority which holds that any burglary is an offense which is within the scope of Sec. 924(e), United States v. Dickerson, 857 F.2d 414, 419 (7th Cir.1988), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 1753, 104 L.Ed.2d 189 (1989), but suggests that it was inappropriate, given the nature of Hope's conviction, to use a conviction for commercial burglary as a basis for enhancing his sentence. United States v. Chatman, 869 F.2d 525, 529 (9th Cir.1989); United States v. Headspeth, 852 F.2d 753, 758 (4th Cir.1988). 38 We find Hope's argument unpersuasive in light of our more recent decision in United States v. Dombrowski, 877 F.2d 520 (7th Cir.1989), in which we found that the term burglary in Sec. 924(e)(2)(B) was intended by the legislature to encompass any felony consisting of entering or remaining surreptitiously within a building that is property of another with intent to engage in conduct constituting a Federal or State offense. Dombrowski, 877 F.2d at 530. We conclude, as we did in Dombrowski, that the commercial burglary of which Hope was convicted in 1975 qualifies as a sentence-enhancing offense under Sec. 924(e). See Dombrowski, 877 F.2d at 530-531 and n. 12. 5 C. Due Process 39 Hope makes a cursory argument that his sentencing contravened due process of law, based on the district court's purported failure to determine whether the proceedings in 1975 actually culminated in a conviction. The government maintains that the district court did, in fact, make an oral finding at the close of the evidence in the sentencing proceeding that ... the defendant was indeed convicted on at least three felonies involving violence ..., and that the foundation for the enhanced sentence was properly made. 40 Prior to his sentencing hearing in the present case, Hope filed a Motion to Prevent Government from Using Alleged Prior Convictions To Enhance Sentencing. Hope contended that his three prior convictions could not be used as a predicate to sentence enhancement under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(e) because (1) his conviction for deviate sexual assault was not a felony involving violence; (2) the 1970 and 1975 convictions for burglary of a commercial building did not involve the use of a weapon and were therefore not felonies involving violence; and (3) the sentence on the 1975 burglary was in violation of Hope's constitutional guarantees of due process, effective assistance of counsel and involuntary self-incrimination. The district court summarily denied the defendant's motion. 41 It is undisputed that the government has an affirmative duty to prove the absence of a constitutional defect in a prior conviction which it intends to use as a predicate to sentence enhancement once a constitutional challenge has been raised. Crovedi v. United States, 517 F.2d 541, 543 (7th Cir.1975). The constitutional challenges which Hope raised at the trial level, however, were conclusory in nature and lacked both a factual and legal basis. Hope presented no evidence whatsoever to suggest that his plea of guilty in 1975 was not knowingly and voluntarily made, that his attorney at the time rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance, or that he was otherwise denied due process. Neither did he demonstrate a factual or legal basis for the proposition that deviate sexual assault and commercial burglary are not violent felonies within the meaning of Sec. 924(e). Under the circumstances, we find that neither the government nor the court was under a duty to make further inquiry into the constitutional validity of Hope's prior convictions. We, accordingly, reject Hope's argument that his sentencing contravened due process of law.