Opinion ID: 203601
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Giggey's Federal Sentencing

Text: At his sentencing for the federal arson crime, the central issue was whether Giggey qualified as a career offender under the Guidelines. To be a career offender: (1) the defendant must be at least eighteen years old at the time the defendant committed the instant offense of conviction; (2) the defendant's instant offense must be a felony that is either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense; and (3) the defendant must have at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(a). Only the third requirement was at issue. Giggey was twenty-seven years old at the time he committed his arson offense, satisfying the age requirement in § 4B1.1. Additionally, Giggey's federal offense is a crime of violence under the Guideline because arson is one of the enumerated crimes in § 4B1.2(a)(2). Thus, at sentencing, the key issue became whether Giggey's two predicate state burglary convictions were for crimes of violence under § 4B1.2. Applying this circuit's per se rule, the district court treated Giggey's two burglary offenses as career offender predicates. Giggey, 501 F.Supp.2d at 245. Giggey's career offender status set his Guidelines range at 151 to 188 months, instead of the 63 to 78 month range he would have received if he were not a career offender. Ultimately, the district court chose to vary from the Guidelines range after considering the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors and sentenced Giggey to ninety-five months' imprisonment.