Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s habeas petition challenging his 276-month term of incarceration on drug and firearms charges, where said sentence was based, in part, on finding that defendant qualified for sentencing treatment as armed career criminal under Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). While defendant argued that his prior Illinois conviction for attempted murder did not qualify as “violent felony” under ACCA since it could be committed without use of force, Ct. of Appeals found that said offense did qualify as violent felony under ACCA, where: (1) offense of murder qualified as violent felony; and (2) attempt to commit murder also qualified as violent felony since substantive offense of murder is violent felony under section 924(e) of ACCA. Ct. further noted that conviction of attempted murder required proof of intent to commit all elements of completed crime.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Criminal Court
Sentencing