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Seventh Circuit goes into the woods and splits over career offender enhancement

By Douglas A. Berman

Despite the fact that the Supreme Court has issued a series of opinions recently concerning what prior offenses qualify for various criminal history enhancements under federal law, these issues remain a murky doctrinal mess.  This reality is born out by a split ruling from the Seventh Circuit yesterday in US v. Woods, No. 07-3851 (7th Cir. Aug. 5, 2009) (available here). Here is how the significant majority opinion, per Judge Wood, gets started: Vernon Woods was convicted of two counts of distributing ecstasy, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and one count of possession of a weapon by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). The district court found that Woods was a career offender and thus was subject to an enhanced sentence under § 4B1...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).