USCA11 Case: 21-14514 Document: 39-1 Date Filed: 01/10/2023 Page: 1 of 18 [PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 21-14514 ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus CHAVAR ALEC HARRISON, Defendant-Appellee. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:20-cr-00086-JRH-BKE-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-14514 Document: 39-1 Date Filed: 01/10/2023 Page: 2 of 18 2 Opinion of the Court 21-14514 Before WILSON, JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judges, and RUIZ, * District Judge. RUIZ, District Judge: This case is about whether Georgia’s robbery statute, O.C.G.A. § 16-8-40, is divisible under Mathis v. United States, 579 U.S. 500 (2016), and if so, whether robbery by intimidation under Georgia law is a crime of violence within the meaning of Section 4B1.2 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. We conclude the answer to both questions is yes. Therefore, the district court erred when it held otherwise, and we vacate Chavar Harrison’s sentence and remand for resentencing. I. In 1997, Chavar Harrison was charged with armed robbery under Georgia law. He ultimately pled guilty to the lesser included offense of robbery by intimidation. On April 17, 2020, officers from the Richmond County Sherriff’s Office stopped Harrison for a traf- fic violation. During the stop, the officers conducted a probable cause search of Harrison’s vehicle after they smelled marijuana em- anating from it. Though the officers did not find marijuana, they located a loaded handgun, and Harrison proceeded to speak with the officers about his possession of the firearm. * Honorable Rodolfo A. Ruiz II, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, sitting by designation. USCA11 Case: 21-14514 Document: 39-1 Date Filed: 01/10/2023 Page: 3 of 18 21-14514 Opinion of the Court 3 A grand jury later indicted Harrison for one count of posses- sion of a firearm by a prohibited person in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), to which Harrison pled guilty. The provision of the United States Sentencing Guidelines applicable to that offense pro- vides for a base offense level of twenty when, relevant to this ap- peal, “the defendant committed any part of the instant offense sub- sequent to sustaining one felony conviction of either a crime of vi- olence or a controlled substance offense.” U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(4)(A). The probation officer who prepared the presen- tence investigation report (“PSR”) classified Harrison’s prior con- viction for robbery by intimidation under Georgia law as a convic- tion of a crime of violence. Accordingly, Harrison’s PSR assigned him a base offense level of twenty and a total offense level of sev- enteen under the Guidelines after applying reductions for ac- ceptance of responsibility. With a total offense level of seventeen and a criminal history category of IV, the Guidelines provided an advisory sentencing range of thirty-seven to forty-six months’ im- prisonment. Harrison objected to the PSR’s classification of his prior con- viction. He argued that robbery by sudden snatching, found within Georgia’s robbery statute, is not a crime …
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