Opinion ID: 184149
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery

Text: The next issue is whether Lee's felony conviction for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, under New Jersey Statute Section 2C:5-2, qualifies as a crime of violence under the residual clause of U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a). After the Court heard oral arguments, the government conceded that Lee's conspiracy conviction does not qualify categorically as a crime of violence. With the government's concession in mind, the Court proceeds to address the merits of this issue. The Court first must determine if the New Jersey crime of conspiracy to commit armed robbery is a non-overt act conspiracy, or an overt act conspiracy. This is because a non-overt act conspiracy is not a section 4B1.1 `crime of violence.' Whitson, 597 F.3d at 1223 (emphasis added). [3] [C]riminal conspiracy is only a `crime of violence' if the conspiracy, in itself, involves conduct that is purposeful, violent, and aggressive. Id. at 1222. If the conspiracy does not require an overt act, then there is no such purposeful, violent, [or] aggressive conduct to make it a crime of violence under Begay. Id. The New Jersey criminal conspiracy statute provides the following: A person is guilty of conspiracy with another person or persons to commit a crime if with the purpose of promoting or facilitating its commission he: (1) Agrees with such other person or persons that they or one or more of them will engage in conduct which constitutes such crime ...; or (2) Agrees to aid such other person or persons in the planning or commission of such crime or of an attempt or solicitation to commit such crime. N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:5-2a. Furthermore, regarding an overt act, the statute provides: No person may be convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime other than a crime of the first or second degree ... unless an overt act in pursuance of such conspiracy is proved to have been done by him or by a person with whom he conspired. Id. at d (emphasis added). In other words, if the object of the conspiracy is a crime of the first or second degree, the state need not prove that the defendant committed an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. State v. Scherzer, 301 N.J.Super. 363, 694 A.2d 196, 214 (N.J.Super.Ct.App.Div.1997) (holding that [w]hen the State prosecutes a defendant for conspiracy to commit a first or second degree crime, it need not prove that [the] defendant committed an overt act in pursuance of the conspiracy). In New Jersey, armed robbery is a crime of the first degree. [4] N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:15-1b (providing that [r]obbery is a crime of the second degree, except that it is a crime of the first degree if in the course of committing the theft the actor... is armed with ... a deadly weapon). Therefore, conspiracy to commit armed robbery does not require an overt act under New Jersey law. And, because it is a non-overt act conspiracy, under Whitson, it is also not a crime of violence under the Sentencing Guidelines. Accordingly, we conclude that the district court erred when it ruled that Lee's New Jersey conviction for conspiracy to commit armed robbery was categorically a crime of violence.