Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Footnote 7

In his characteristically snappy writing style, Judge Carnes summarized conflicting opinions with parentheticals that read "Bull!" and "au contraire." Read footnote 7 of United States v. Harris to see what I mean. But also read the rest of the opinion; it adds to the emerging body of law about what is a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Here, Harris was convicted of sexual battery on a child under the age of 16 under Florida statute §800.04(3) (1996). The Court found that that conviction was not a violent felony under the residual clause of the ACCA. Why? "Because the Florida statute, viewed categorically, imposes strict liability and covers such a broad range of conduct, we cannot say that a violation of it typically involves 'purposeful,' 'violent,' and 'aggressive' conduct" under Begay.

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