Criminal Law

Dist. Ct. did not err in sentencing defendant to 184-month term of incarceration on unlawful possession of firearm charge after finding that defendant was armed career criminal based in part on existence of prior Ill. conviction for aggravated vehicular fleeing that qualified as violent felony under residual clause of Armed Career Criminal Act (Act). While defendant argued that residual clause of said Act is unconstitutionally vague because residual clause contains no discernable standard to guide its application, various U.S. Supreme Ct. decisions considered and applied residual clause without finding that residual clause lacked ascertainable standard. Moreover, Ct. in Welch, 604 F.3d 408, previously found that Ill. crime of aggravated vehicular fleeing qualified as violent felony under Act as of time of instant charged offense.

Dist. Ct. erred in sentencing defendant to 96-month term of incarceration on charges of fraud and aggravated identity theft where sentences of three counts of aggravated identity theft called for specific 2-year sentence that could be served either concurrently or consecutively with other two counts of same offense, and where Dist. Ct. failed to specify whether sentences for three counts of aggravated identity theft should be served either concurrently or consecutively. On remand, Dist. Ct. could still require that defendant serve consecutive sentences for all three counts of aggravated identity theft, and that said sentences be served consecutively to sentences for fraud.

In prosecution on charge of possession of child pornography, Dist. Ct. erred in allowing govt. to question defendant with respect to allegations that defendant had touched his 6-year-old granddaughter inappropriately and watched his teenage stepdaughter take showers since Dist. Ct. had failed to conduct requisite Rule 403 balancing test to determine whether admission of said evidence was unduly prejudicial. However, error was harmless given defendant's admission that his computer contained approximately 20 child pornography videos and that he had deleted approximately 100 similar files.

In prosecution on federal drug conspiracy charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant's motion to suppress as involuntary his inculpatory statements given to state prosecutor in exchange for oral non-prosecution agreement as to any state charges, even though defendant asserted that he only gave statements in reliance on bad legal advice from his counsel, who stated that instant immunity would also apply to any federal prosecution. Proof of coercive police activity is necessary predicate to finding of involuntary confession, and neither state prosecutor nor police investigators made any threats or false promises of leniency to obtain defendant's statements. Moreover, defendant failed to establish any ineffective assistance of counsel claim since: (1) said claim is viable only after right to counsel has attached; and (2) prior to attachment of any right to counsel, defendant had agreed to talk to police long before any initiation of adversary judicial proceedings had occurred.

Dist. Ct. erred in sentencing defendant to mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years incarceration on illegal possession of firearm charge after finding that defendant qualified as armed career criminal under Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) based on existence of 1984 burglary and 1985 convictions for burglary and aggravated robbery that were committed on same day. While defendant conceded that all three convictions qualified as violent felonies, govt. failed in its burden to show under instant sparse and ambiguous record that 1985 convictions were committed on occasions different from each other so as to establish instant enhancement under ACCA. Ct. overruled burden shifting scheme contained in Hudspeth, 42 F.3d 1015, that had previously placed burden on defendant to show that prior convictions were simultaneous incidents.