Opinion ID: 3045886
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Present Offense

Text: While serving his 60-year sentence in Texas, Overstreet married a long-time friend, Taffy Overstreet (“Taffy”). In 2008, after spending approximately 22 years behind bars, Overstreet was released on parole under strict supervision and went to live with Taffy at her house in Houston. He was 49 years old at the time of his release. As part of his many parole conditions, Overstreet had to wear an 4 Case: 11-16031 Date Filed: 03/28/2013 Page: 5 of 26 electronic monitoring ankle bracelet that would set off an alarm if he left his home between 6:30 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. On November 8, 2010, at approximately 5:30 a.m., Overstreet cut his electronic ankle bracelet, setting off an alarm, and fled Texas. Around the same time, Taffy disappeared and has not been seen or heard from since. Overstreet was eventually caught on December 8, 2010, in Jacksonville, Florida. Among other things, the police discovered a loaded gun and a roll of blood-stained duct tape in the trunk of the car he was driving. Overstreet was the prime suspect in Taffy’s disappearance, but her body was never found, and Overstreet was not charged with her murder. Rather, Overstreet was indicted in federal court on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). He pled guilty to this firearm offense, but did not admit the existence and nature of his prior convictions, aside from the fact that he had at least one prior felony. Overstreet expressly reserved the right to contest his potential sentencing enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). 4 At Overstreet’s sentencing hearing for the present offense, the district court found that the government proved by a preponderance of the evidence that 4 Section 924(e) provides for a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence for a felon-inpossession conviction if the defendant “has three previous convictions by any court . . . for a violent felony . . . committed on occasions different from one another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). 5 Case: 11-16031 Date Filed: 03/28/2013 Page: 6 of 26 Overstreet murdered Taffy while absconding from parole. We review the initial sentencing calculations, the ACCA objections and rulings, the evidence about Taffy’s murder, and then the district court’s upward variance to a 420-month sentence.