Opinion ID: 583485
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Greenberg as a Career Offender

Text: 40 A defendant whose instant offense of conviction is either a controlled substance offense or a violent felony and whose record reflects at least two prior convictions for either drug offenses or violent felonies is classified as a career offender under section 4B1.1 of the sentencing guidelines. The district court found that in light of Greenberg's prior convictions for attempted arson and armed robbery, his conviction for marijuana trafficking conferred career offender status. See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1. Greenberg argues that the district court erred by declining to ascertain whether his conviction for attempted arson in fact involved physical violence. He also asserts that his 1973 armed robbery conviction is an ineligible predicate offense because it was committed over fifteen years before the instant offense of conviction. See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e)(1). We find these arguments meritless. 41 Section 4B1.2(1) and Application Note 2 to section 4B1.1 designate arson as a crime of violence. Note 2 also states that qualifying predicate offenses include attempted crimes of violence. See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, Application Note 2. Further scrutiny of a prior conviction is unwarranted: the analysis of a crime under [§ 4B1.1] should focus on the statute which defines the offense--evidence establishing the particular conduct of the defendant on the day the crime was committed does not bear on that inquiry. United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, 911 F.2d 542, 547 (11th Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 2056, 114 L.Ed.2d 461 (1991). 42 The armed robbery conviction of 1973 was also a proper predicate offense because Greenberg was incarcerated for that offense within the fifteen year period prior to the instant offense. See U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e)(1). Greenberg served a prison sentence for the armed robbery conviction until August 15, 1979. 10