Court Opinion

ID: 9634157
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 12:50:58.969022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:54.841718
License: Public Domain

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the majority’s judgment and reasoning, and write separately merely to note an additional basis for my concurrence. In a case that post-dates most of the precedent relied upon by our sister circuits, Leocal v. Ashcroft, the Supreme Court concluded that driving under the influence is not a crime of violence, reasoning:
In construing both parts of [18 U.S.C.] § 16, we cannot forget that we ultimately are determining the meaning of the term ‘crime of violence.’ The ordinary meaning of this term, combined with § 16’s emphasis on the use of physical force against another person (or the risk of having to use such force in committing a crime), suggests a category of violent, active crimes that cannot be said naturally to include DUI offenses. Cf. United States v. Doe, 960 F.2d 221, 225 (C.A.1 1992) (Breyer, C.J.) (observing that the term ‘violent felony’ in 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) ‘calls to mind a tradition of crimes that involve the possibility of more closely related, active violence’). Interpreting § 16 to encompass accidental or negligent conduct would blur the distinction between the ‘violent’ crimes Congress sought to distinguish for heightened punishment and other crimes.
Leocal v. Ashcroft, 543 U.S. 1, 11, 125 S.Ct. 377, 160 L.Ed.2d 271 (2004).
I recognize, as does the lead opinion, that 18 U.S.C. § 16 — the statute construed in Leocal — is not identical to the statute at issue here. But if we ignore for a moment the weight of our sister circuits’ precedent, which fortifies the government’s position, and instead consider anew the reasoning behind that precedent — as the Supreme Court will do when faced with this issue— it is clear that the same arguments against possession of a sawed-off shotgun could be applied to driving under the influence. In fact, it appears likely that the act of driving under the influence would be more likely to “involve[ ] conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another,” than would the mere possession of a sawed-off shotgun. See Leocal, 543 U.S. at 11, 125 S.Ct. 377 (DUI is not a crime of violence); see also United States v. Fish, 368 F.3d 1200 (9th Cir.2004) (possession of a pipe bomb is not a crime of violence); United States v. Oliver, 20 F.3d 415 (11th Cir.1994) (possession of explosives is not a violent felony).