Court Opinion

ID: 9375379
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-27 17:00:28.353187+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:58.369247
License: Public Domain

United States Court of Appeals
                            For the Eighth Circuit
                        ___________________________

                                No. 22-1528
                        ___________________________

                            United States of America

                                      Plaintiff - Appellee

                                        v.

                                Eric Lee Coleman

                                    Defendant - Appellant
                                  ____________

                     Appeal from United States District Court
                    for the Southern District of Iowa - Eastern
                                  ____________

                           Submitted: January 11, 2023
                            Filed: February 27, 2023
                                 ____________

Before GRUENDER, BENTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.
                          ____________

GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.

       Eric Lee Coleman pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing a controlled
substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(b)(1)(A) and 841(b)(1)(B). The district
court1 concluded that Coleman qualified as a career offender under U.S.S.G § 4B1.1.

      1
        The Honorable Stephanie M. Rose, Chief Judge, United States District Court
for the Southern District of Iowa.
Coleman appeals, arguing that the district court erred by applying the
career-offender guideline. We affirm.

                                         I.

      Coleman was indicted for one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled
substance, see § 846 (Count 1), and two counts of distribution of a controlled
substance, see § 841(b)(1)(B) (Count 2) and § 841(b)(1)(A) (Count 3). Coleman
pleaded guilty to Counts 2 and 3.

        The presentence investigation report (“PSR”) concluded that Coleman
qualified for the career-offender sentence enhancement. See § 4B1.1. A defendant
qualifies for the enhancement if his present offense and at least two past offenses are
felony convictions for a “crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.”
§ 4B1.1(a). The PSR identified three predicate offenses qualifying Coleman for the
enhancement. First, Coleman was convicted in Illinois in 1994 for attempted murder
in the first degree. Second, Coleman was convicted in Illinois in 1994 for aggravated
vehicular hijacking. And third, Coleman was convicted in Iowa in 2018 for
possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

      Coleman received concurrent 14-year sentences for his attempted murder and
vehicular hijacking offenses on April 27, 1995. On that same day, Coleman also
received a 4-year sentence for possession of contraband in a penal institution to run
consecutively to the attempted murder and vehicular hijacking sentences.
According to the PSR, Coleman was released on parole in February 2003, had his
parole revoked on April 29, 2004, and was paroled again on July 1, 2004. The PSR
and Coleman’s Offender Custody History form do not definitively state whether
Coleman was serving his sentence for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking, or
possession of contraband at the time he was paroled.2 Coleman’s Offender Custody

      2
       Coleman’s Offender Custody History Form was prepared by the Illinois
Department of Corrections and lists each of Coleman’s Illinois offenses and the
corresponding date of discharge.

                                         -2-
History form states that Coleman completed his supervised release for the attempted
murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking offenses in December 2005.

        Coleman objected to the PSR, arguing that his attempted murder and vehicular
hijacking offenses do not qualify as predicate offenses for the career-offender
enhancement for two reasons. First, Coleman claimed that he was not imprisoned
for attempted murder or vehicular hijacking within fifteen years of the time when
the conduct underlying his present drug-distribution offenses began, as required by
the guidelines. See §§ 4A1.2(e)(1), 4B1.2 cmt. n.3. Second, Coleman claimed that
his Illinois attempted murder and vehicular hijacking convictions are not crimes of
violence under § 4B1.2(a).

       The district court overruled Coleman’s objections. The district court found
that Coleman’s conduct underlying his present drug-distribution offense began by
May 1, 2019 and that he was incarcerated for his attempted murder and vehicular
hijacking offenses through July 1, 2004 (which is within fifteen years of May 1,
2019). The district court also concluded that Coleman’s attempted murder and
vehicular hijacking offenses were crimes of violence. The court thus determined
that Coleman qualified as a career offender. With a criminal-history category of VI
and a total offense level of 34, the court determined an advisory guidelines range of
262 to 327 months’ imprisonment and imposed a within-guidelines sentence of 262
months’ imprisonment. Coleman appeals.

                                         II.

       On appeal, Coleman argues that his attempted murder and vehicular hijacking
offenses are not predicate offenses for the career-offender enhancement because they
fall outside the fifteen-year limitations period and are not crimes of violence. “We
review the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its construction and
application of the sentencing guidelines de novo.” United States v. Strong, 773 F.3d
920, 925 (8th Cir. 2014).

                                        -3-
                                          A.

      We first address Coleman’s argument that his attempted murder and vehicular
hijacking offenses fall outside the fifteen-year limitations period. The parties dispute
whether Coleman was paroled for those offenses in February 2003 and consequently
whether his parole was revoked for those offenses in April 2004.

       An adult defendant who commits an offense punishable by more than a year
in prison qualifies for the career-offender guideline if (1) “the instant offense of
conviction is a felony that is either a crime of violence or a controlled substance
offense,” (2) “the defendant has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime
of violence or a controlled substance offense,” and (3) the prior convictions were
imposed or the defendant was incarcerated (for those convictions) within fifteen
years of the defendant beginning the conduct underlying his current offense. See
§§ 4A1.2(e)(1), 4B1.1(a). The district court must find by a preponderance of the
evidence facts relevant to the application of the sentencing guidelines. United States
v. Dock, 967 F.3d 903, 904-05 (8th Cir. 2014).

        Coleman disputes the district court’s finding that he was imprisoned for his
attempted murder and vehicular hijacking convictions through July 2004, a finding
necessary to its conclusion that Coleman was imprisoned for those offenses within
fifteen years of his present offense. Coleman emphasizes that his 4-year sentence
for possession of contraband in a penal institution was imposed on the same day he
was sentenced for murder and vehicular hijacking and that it ran consecutively to
those sentences. Coleman therefore argues that he likely completed his concurrent
sentences for attempted murder and vehicular hijacking by the time he was released
on parole in February 2003 and that he returned to prison from April 2004 to July
2004 for violating parole on his contraband conviction instead. Coleman also notes
that he received two other 3-year sentences in August 1995 for possession of a
controlled substance and violating parole and that the PSR did not indicate whether
these sentences ran consecutively or concurrently to his attempted murder and

                                          -4-
vehicular hijacking sentences. Coleman thus claims that he may have returned to
prison to serve time for those convictions as well.

        We disagree. According to Coleman’s Offender Custody History form, the
mandatory supervised release period for his attempted murder and vehicular
hijacking convictions was discharged in December 2005. Coleman insinuates that
this listed discharge date is wrong. But the discharge date for his attempted murder
and vehicular hijacking convictions is entirely consistent with Illinois state practice.
Illinois treats a defendant who receives consecutive sentences as serving a single
term, with the mandatory supervised release period “corresponding to the most
serious offense.” See People v. Jackson, 897 N.E.2d 752, 755 (Ill. 2008). Because
Coleman’s attempted murder and vehicular hijacking convictions were the most
serious of his convictions,3 a preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that his
parole for his attempted murder and vehicular hijacking convictions was revoked in
April 2004 and that he returned to prison to serve time for those offenses through
July 2004. Therefore, the district court did not clearly err.

                                          B.

      We next address Coleman’s argument that his attempted murder and vehicular
hijacking convictions are not crimes of violence, starting with his attempted murder
conviction.

      We determine whether a crime of conviction is a crime of violence using the
categorical approach. United States v. Roblero-Ramirez, 716 F.3d 1122, 1125 (8th

      3
       730 Ill. Comp. Stat. § 5/5-8-1(d)(1) (1995) established a term of 3 years’
mandatory supervised release for a Class X felony, which included aggravated
vehicular hijacking and first-degree attempted murder. Coleman’s possession-of-a-
controlled-substance conviction was a Class 1 felony with a 1-year term of
supervised release. See § 5/5-8-1(d)(2)(1995). Coleman’s contraband conviction
was a Class 3 felony with a 6-month term of supervised release. See § 5/5-8-1(d)(2)
(1995).

                                          -5-
Cir. 2013). “Under this approach, we look not to the facts of the particular prior
case, but instead to whether the state statute defining the crime of conviction
categorically fits within the generic federal definition of a corresponding crime of
violence.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). When applying the categorical
approach, we “focus solely on whether the elements of the crime of conviction
sufficiently match the elements” of the generic offense. Mathis v. United States,
579 U.S. 500, 504 (2016).

       The enumerated clause of § 4B1.2(a)(2) lists murder as a crime of violence.
The commentary explains that attempt crimes corresponding to the offenses listed
in the enumerated clause are also crimes of violence. § 4B1.2, cmt. n.1; United
States v. Mendoza-Figueroa, 65 F.3d 691, 694 (8th Cir. 1995) (en banc) (holding
that the commentary to § 4B1.2 is binding in construing the definitions of “crime of
violence” and “controlled substance offense”). At the time of Coleman’s conviction,
Illinois attempted murder contained the same elements as the generic federal offense,
namely, intent to commit murder and a substantial step towards the commission of
the murder. See 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. §§ 5/9-1(a), 5/8-4(a) (1994); see also United
States v. Young, 613 F.3d 735, 742-43 (8th Cir. 2010). Nevertheless, Coleman
argues that his attempted murder conviction does not fit within the definition of
generic federal attempted murder. Specifically, he claims that the Illinois attempted
murder statute in 1994 did not allow for an affirmative defense of abandonment but
that the generic federal attempted murder offense does. According to Coleman, we
should look to affirmative defenses when comparing the definitions of a federal
generic offense with a state offense because affirmative defenses help demonstrate
what conduct is prohibited (or permissible) under a statute. In support of his view,
Coleman cites United States v. Medina-Velencia, a case in which we referred to a
statutory affirmative defense when analyzing the scope of conduct prohibited by a
state criminal statute as part of the categorical-approach analysis. See 538 F.3d 831,
835 (8th Cir. 2008).

        Coleman’s argument is at odds with Mathis’s instruction that we must “focus
solely on whether the elements of the crime of conviction sufficiently match the

                                         -6-
elements” of the generic offense. 579 U.S. at 504. Coleman acknowledges Mathis’s
directive but claims that the Supreme Court did not squarely hold that affirmative
defenses are irrelevant to the categorical approach. That is true, but we view Mathis
as necessarily preventing the consideration of affirmative defenses under the
categorical approach. Mathis defined a crime’s elements as “the constituent parts
of a crime’s legal definition—the things the prosecution must prove to sustain a
conviction.” Id. And prosecutors need not prove an affirmative defense (or the
absence thereof) to sustain a conviction. See Smith v. United States, 568 U.S. 106,
110 (2013) (“While the Government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt every
fact necessary to constitute the crime with which the defendant is charged, proof of
the nonexistence of all affirmative defenses has never been constitutionally
required.”) (brackets, citation, and internal quotation marks omitted). We therefore
agree with the Fifth Circuit that Mathis barred the argument that courts should
consider affirmative defenses when applying the categorical approach because “it is
black letter law that an affirmative defense (or the absence thereof) is not the same
thing as an element of the crime.” See United States v. Escalante, 933 F.3d 395, 399
(5th Cir. 2019); see also United States v. Velasquez-Bosque, 601 F.3d 955, 963 (9th
Cir. 2010) (stating that “[t]he availability of an affirmative defense is not relevant to
the categorical analysis”); Donawa v. United States Attorney General, 735 F.3d
1275, 1282 (11th Cir. 2013) (“An affirmative defense generally does not create a
separate element of the offense that the government is required to prove in order to
obtain a conviction.”). Thus, Mathis forecloses Coleman’s argument. 4

      In sum, we find that Coleman’s attempted murder offense has the same
elements as the generic federal offense and therefore is a crime of violence under
§ 4B1.2(a)(1). Coleman does not contest that his 2018 Iowa drug offense is a valid
predicate offense for the imposition of the career-offender guideline. So, our
determination that Coleman’s attempted murder conviction is a crime of violence

      4
       Because we find that Coleman’s Illinois attempted murder conviction is a
crime of violence under the guidelines’ enumerated clause, we need not consider
whether it also qualifies as a crime of violence under the elements clause of
§ 4B1.2(a)(1).

                                          -7-
gives Coleman two predicate offenses, and we need not consider the status of
Coleman’s vehicular hijacking offense in order to find that the career-offender
enhancement under § 4B1(a)(1) applies.

                                     III.

      For the foregoing reasons, we affirm.
                      ______________________________

                                      -8-