A chronic headache in writing and applying laws dealing with prior convictions is that the prior may have come from a different jurisdiction, and many crimes are defined differently across jurisdictions. The U.S. Supreme Court has struggled for years with the Armed Career Criminal Act to determine what convictions count as priors.
Today the Supreme Court took up Mathis v. United States, No. 15-6092. The Question Presented is:
Today the Supreme Court took up Mathis v. United States, No. 15-6092. The Question Presented is:
Whether a predicate prior conviction under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. ยง 924(e)(1), must qualify as such under the elements of the offense simpliciter, without extending the modified categorical approach to separate statutory definitional provisions that merely establish the means by which referenced elements may be satisfied rather than stating alternative elements or versions of the offense?Paragraph (e)(1) is the "three strikes" provision:
In the case of a person who violates section 922(g) of this title and has three previous convictions by any court referred to in section 922(g)(1) of this title for a violent felony or a serious drug offense, or both, committed on occasions different from one another, such person shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than fifteen years, and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court shall not suspend the sentence of, or grant a probationary sentence to, such person with respect to the conviction under section 922(g).
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