Opinion ID: 2593
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: BACKGROUND Darden

Text: Joel Darden was arrested on February 23, 2000, for possessing a handgun and ammunition. Darden pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm after having been previously convicted of an offense punishable by more than one year imprisonment, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). It is undisputed that Darden had been previously convicted of the following felonies: 1. December 1989 : a Class B New York felony of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, in violation of New York Penal Law § 220.39. 2. December 1989 : an ACCA predicate violent felony. 3. September 1997 : an ACCA predicate violent felony. Darden was sentenced on September 29, 2006. At sentencing, the government argued that these three prior convictions subjected Darden to the fifteen year mandatory minimum sentence of the ACCA, in Section 924(e). The sole dispute was whether Darden's conviction for the Class B New York drug felony was a conviction for a serious drug offense. In an oral decision, Judge Johnson determined that the ACCA enhancement applied, without explaining the basis for his ruling. Judge Johnson sentenced Darden to 180 months for the underlying offense to run consecutively with a thirty month sentence for the ACCA enhancement, [2] five years supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.