Tenth Circuit wraps up big day in the circuits

Tuesday was quite the busy sentencing day in the Circuits.  In addition to previously noted rulings from the Fifth Circuit and the Eighth Circuit, there were also significant sentencing decisions from the Third Circuit (on restitution awards), from the Sixth Circuit (on reasonableness review), and from the Seventh Circuit (on guideline calculations).  But, as noted here at How Appealing, the best read of the day might come from the Tenth Circuit’s split decision in US vs. Begay, No. 05-2253 (10th Cir. Dec. 12, 2006) (available here) concerning whether drunk driving convictions should qualify as ‘violent felonies’ under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

Begay includes a nice little Booker section that clarifies that the guidelines “impose no rigid boundaries on what sentences are permissible.”  But the heart of the opinion deals with statutory construction and congressional intent, and the start of Judge McConnell’s dissent spotlights the central issue:

The majority holds that serial drunk driving is a violent felony for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e).  As a result, it finds that the defendant was properly sentenced to over fifteen years in prison for a crime that otherwise would entail a Guidelines range of 41-51 months. I respectfully dissent.