USCA11 Case: 21-13963 Document: 63-1 Date Filed: 12/13/2022 Page: 1 of 35 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-13963 ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus EUGENE JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 1:19-cr-20546-KMW-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-13963 Document: 63-1 Date Filed: 12/13/2022 Page: 2 of 35 2 Opinion of the Court 21-13963 Before ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR, and ED CARNES, Circuit Judges. ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge: The Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), man- dates a fifteen-year minimum sentence for a defendant who pos- sesses a firearm and satisfies any of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)’s condi- tions while having at least three qualifying “previous convictions.” “[P]revious convictions” qualify if they are for a “violent felony or a serious drug offense, or both.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). This appeal concerns ACCA’s definition of “serious drug offense.” A prior state conviction satisfies ACCA’s definition of “seri- ous drug offense” if it is one “involving manufacturing, distrib- uting, or possessing with intent to manufacture or distribute, a con- trolled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Sub- stances Act . . .), for which a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years or more is prescribed by law.” Id. § 924(e)(2)(A)(ii) (em- phasis added). Not surprisingly, the Controlled Substances Act’s list of controlled substances changes from time to time. We must decide which version of the controlled-substances list ACCA’s def- inition of “serious drug offense” incorporates: the one in effect when the defendant violated 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (the “firearm of- fense”) or the one in effect when the defendant was convicted of his prior state drug offense. We hold that the Supreme Court’s reasoning in McNeill v. United States, 563 U.S. 816 (2011), requires us to conclude that ACCA’s “serious drug offense” definition incor- porates the version of the controlled-substances list in effect when the defendant was convicted of his prior state drug offense. USCA11 Case: 21-13963 Document: 63-1 Date Filed: 12/13/2022 Page: 3 of 35 21-13963 Opinion of the Court 3 I. The facts here are straightforward. Eugene Jackson pled guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e)(1). In sup- port of his guilty plea, the factual proffer shows that he unlawfully possessed a loaded firearm on September 26, 2017. In Jackson’s presentence investigation report, the probation officer concluded that Jackson qualified for a sentence enhance- ment under ACCA based on his prior criminal history. That is, the officer determined that, when Jackson possessed the firearm, he had at least three prior convictions for a “violent felony or a serious drug offense, or both, committed on occasions different from one another.” Id. § 924(e)(1). And under those circumstances, ACCA mandates a fifteen-year minimum sentence for violation of the fire- arm prohibition in 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). Although Jackson conceded that he had two prior …
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals