Opinion ID: 564386
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: o'neal's sentence under the guidelines

Text: 26 The district court sentenced O'Neal to 360 months imprisonment under the career offender provisions of the Sentencing Guidelines applicable to offenses committed at the time of O'Neal's offense. See Guideline 4B1 (1988). 7 O'Neal argues that the district court erred in determining that he was a career offender under the Guidelines. 27 We review de novo the interpretation of a provision of the Sentencing Guidelines. United States v. Williams, 891 F.2d 212, 214 (9th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1496, 108 L.Ed.2d 631 (1990). 28 Guideline 4B1.1 provides in part that a defendant is a career offender if (1) he is at least eighteen years old at the time of the instant offense; (2) the instant offense of conviction is a felony that is a crime of violence; and (3) the defendant has at least two prior felony convictions that are crimes of violence. Only the second and third requirements are at issue in this case.
29 At the time of O'Neal's offense, Guideline 4B1.2 defined a crime of violence by reference to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 16 (1988). 8 Under section 16, a crime of violence is 30 (a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or 31 (b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense. 32 At the outset, we note that section 16(a) does not apply to the instant offense: the offense of possession of a firearm by a felon does not have as an element the use or threatened use of physical force against person or property. 33 Section 16(b) explicitly limits its application to felonies which, by their nature, involve a substantial risk that physical force will be used against person or property. O'Neal argues that our analysis of whether an offense is violent under section 16(b) must be categorical, i.e., by reference to the statute of conviction rather than the facts underlying the offense. The government argues that inquiry into the underlying facts of the offense is allowed by the Commentary to Guideline 4B1.2, Application Note 1. See United States v. Williams, 892 F.2d 296, 304 (3d Cir.1989) (relying on commentary to inquire into the factual context of the offense), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 3221, 110 L.Ed.2d 668 (1990). 34 We find it unnecessary to reach the issue of whether the commentary to Guideline 4B1.2 authorizes inquiry into the underlying facts of O'Neal's instant offense. A categorical analysis suffices to conclude that the offense of being a felon in possession of a firearm by its nature poses a substantial risk that physical force will be used against person or property. The history of the firearm laws reveals the strong congressional conviction that an armed felon poses a substantial threat to all members of society. See 18 U.S.C.App. Sec. 1201 (1982) (congressional declaration that possession of firearms by felons poses threat to commerce and to the President and Vice President of the United States), repealed by Pub.L. 99-308, Sec. 104(b), 100 Stat. 459 (1986); 114 Cong.Rec. 14,773 (1968) (comments of Senator Russell Long, sponsor of original version of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922(g)(1) in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, to effect that felons may not be trusted to possess a firearm without becoming a threat to society); cf. generally Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563, 572-77, 97 S.Ct. 1963, 1967-70, 52 L.Ed.2d 582 (1977) (discussing congressional concerns of threat of armed felons, in context of fulfilling nexus requirement between commerce and a felon's possession of a firearm).
35 We also conclude that O'Neal's convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and vehicular manslaughter qualify as violent felonies under Guideline 4B1.1. The attempted use of physical force is an element of the offense of assault with a deadly weapon. People v. Parrish, 170 Cal.App.3d 336, 342, 217 Cal.Rptr. 700, 704 (1985), and so qualifies as a violent felony under section 16(a). Vehicular manslaughter by its nature involves harm to persons, and thus qualifies as a violent felony under section 16(b). See discussion at IA-B, supra. 36 In sum, the district court did not err when it concluded that O'Neal was a career offender under the Guidelines and sentenced him accordingly.