Opinion ID: 182229
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: General Background About the ACCA

Text: The ACCA imposes a mandatory minimum fifteen years of imprisonment if a defendant convicted under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) has “three previous convictions . . . for a violent felony or a serious drug offense, or both, committed on occasions different from one another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). A defendant who is sentenced under the ACCA is also an “armed career criminal” under the Sentencing Guidelines, which affects both the defendant’s offense level and criminal history category. See U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4(a)-(c). To determine the nature of a prior conviction for purposes of the ACCA, the sentencing court uses a modified categorical approach looking at the fact of conviction, the prior offense’s statutory elements and, if necessary, the charging documents, plea agreements and colloquies, jury instructions and other comparable judicial records. Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 16, 125 S. Ct. 1254, 1257 (2005); United States v. Rainer, 616 F.3d 1212, 1215 (11th Cir.), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Nov. 24, 2010) (No. 10-7787). Shepard applies to both whether the three prior convictions were for violent felonies or serious drug 7 offenses and whether the prior offenses were committed on different occasions. United States v. Sneed, 600 F.3d 1326, 1331-33 (11th Cir. 2010).