US v. Brown, No. 09-4991

Felon In Possession Sentence Affirmed

In US v. Brown, No. 09-4991, the court affirmed defendant's sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm where 1) two of defendant's prior offenses were "committed on occasions different from one another" and therefore were properly counted as two separate Armed Career Criminal Act-qualifying convictions; and 2) it was appropriate for the district court to look to defendant's record of conviction -- including the plea transcript -- to determine that defendant was convicted of assaulting employees of the department of correction.

As the court wrote:  "Defendant-Appellant Mozzelle Brown appeals from a November 24, 2009 judgment of conviction entered by the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Hall, J.), following Brown's plea of guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The district court found that Brown's criminal history subjected him to an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act ("ACCA"), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), and sentenced him principally to 180 months' imprisonment, the minimum sentence provided by that statute."

Related Resources

• Read the Second Circuit's Decision in US v. Brown, No. 09-4991