Opinion ID: 4019035
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: career offender guidelines claim

Text: Similarly, Sams has not made a showing that he is entitled to relief on his career-offender enhancement following Johnson. Section 4B1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines provides that a defendant is classified as a career offender if (1) he was at least 18 years old at the time of the offense of conviction; (2) the offense of conviction was either a crime of violence or a controlled-substance offense; and (3) he had at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled-substance offense. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(a). The Guidelines define “crime of violence” as any offense under federal or state law that is punishable by imprisonment for more than one year and: (1) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, or (2) is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a). In United States v. Matchett, 802 F.3d 1185, 1193-96 (11th Cir. 2015), this Court held that the vagueness doctrine, upon which Johnson invalidated the ACCA’s residual clause, did not similarly apply to advisory Sentencing Guidelines. Then, in In re Griffin, ___ F.3d ___, ___, No. 16-12012, 2016 WL 3002293, at  (11th Cir. May 25, 2016), we concluded that the “logic and principles established in Matchett also govern . . . when the Guidelines were mandatory.” Alternatively, even if Johnson invalidated the § 4B1.2 residual clause, we concluded that Welch did not make Johnson retroactive for purposes of a successive § 2255 motion based on the Guidelines. In re Griffin, ___ F.3d at ___, 2016 WL 3002293, at . 9 Case: 16-14515 Date Filed: 07/26/2016 Page: 10 of 13 Sams has not satisfied the statutory criteria for filing a successive § 2255 motion based on his career-offender enhancement for several independent and alternative reasons. First, Sams has not made a prima facie showing that Johnson applies to him in light of Matchett’s and Griffin’s precedent that the Sentencing Guidelines cannot be unconstitutionally vague. See id. at ___, 2016 WL 3002293, at ; Matchett, 802 F.3d at 1195. Second, our precedent holds that Welch does not make Johnson retroactive for purposes of filing a successive § 2255 motion raising a Johnson-based challenge to the Sentencing Guidelines. See In re Griffin, ___ F.3d at ___, 2016 WL 3002293, at ; see also Welch, 578 U.S. at ___, 136 S. Ct. at 1264-65. Third, even if Johnson retroactively applies to the Guidelines, Sams’s claims still fail. Sams’s presentence investigation report (“PSI”) found him to be a career offender because he had the following prior felony convictions: (1) 1985 California convictions for seven counts of robbery;2 and (2) 1985 federal convictions for two counts of bank robbery and two counts of robbery of savings and loan associations. 3 Sams did not object to the PSI’s listing of his convictions or to the fact of these prior convictions. At sentencing, the district court adopted the findings of fact and conclusions of law in the PSI in all respects. Sams also did not file a direct appeal. 2 The seven robberies of banks and businesses were committed on different days during 1984-85 in Los Angeles, California, but Sams was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison for these convictions on the same day (July 16, 1985). Thus, they count as one predicate for career-offender status. 3 These robberies also were committed on different days, but the sentence was imposed on the dame day (September 9, 1985). The PSI also identified other convictions for burglaries and robberies, but the above crimes were used for the career-offender designation. 10 Case: 16-14515 Date Filed: 07/26/2016 Page: 11 of 13 Sams’s robbery convictions categorically count as crimes of violence under the Guidelines’ enumerated crimes clause. See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2 cmt. n.1 (stating that “crime of violence” includes, inter alia, “robbery”); In re Burgest, ___ F.3d ___, No. 16-13597, 2016 WL 3923836, at  (11th Cir. July 21, 2016) (stating that this Court has recognized, based on the decision of the Supreme Court in Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36, 38, 113 S. Ct. 1913, 1915 (1993), that “the definition of ‘crime of violence’ provided by the Guidelines commentary is authoritative”). Thus, Sams has the required two convictions for crimes of violence and is a career offender without regard to the Guidelines’ residual clause. Johnson, even if retroactively applied to the Guidelines, does not benefit Sams.