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United States v. Brice
Citation: 374 F. App'x 298Docket: No. 08-4554
Court: Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; March 24, 2010; Federal Appellate Court
Terrell Brice pled guilty to distribution of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, reserving the right to appeal his designation as a career offender under U.S.S.G. 4B1.1. The District Court classified him as a career offender based on prior convictions for simple assault and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, resulting in an advisory sentencing range of 262 to 327 months. Brice challenged the classification of simple assault as a crime of violence, citing the Supreme Court's decision in Begay v. United States, which he argued indicated that simple assault did not meet the criteria for a crime of violence. The District Court rejected this argument, maintaining that simple assault qualified under both Begay and prior case law, thereby imposing a downward variance sentence of 180 months. The appellate court ultimately vacated Brice's sentence and remanded for resentencing, aligning its decision with the precedents established in United States v. Johnson. The case outcome is guided by the precedential opinion in Johnson, which addressed whether Brice’s prior simple assault conviction qualifies as a crime of violence. The government conceded that a reckless commission of the assault would not qualify under the Begay standard, but intentional or knowing conduct would present a similar risk to enumerated violent crimes, thus qualifying as a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. 4B1.2(a)(2). The court remanded the case for resentencing to assess the mens rea of Brice’s conviction, limited to documents specified in Shepard v. United States, including the statutory definition and relevant trial documents. The government seeks to obtain the transcript from Brice’s bench trial to determine mens rea, acknowledging it currently possesses only the charging document. If the District Court finds the assault was committed intentionally or knowingly, it may qualify as a predicate offense for career offender status. Conversely, if it finds the assault was reckless or cannot determine the mens rea, the conviction will not qualify as a crime of violence. The court has jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. 3231 and 28 U.S.C. 1291 and 18 U.S.C. 3742, exercising plenary review over legal questions and interpretation of the Sentencing Guidelines. U.S.S.G. 4B1.1 outlines that a career offender must be at least 18 at the time of the offense, the offense must be a felony that is either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense, and the defendant must have at least two prior felony convictions of similar nature. Simple assault in Pennsylvania includes various forms of intentional, knowing, or reckless conduct causing bodily injury, while "crime of violence" is defined to involve the use of physical force or conduct presenting serious potential risk of injury.