UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,
v.
MICHAEL EUGENE HARKEY, DEFENDANT-APPELLEE

9th Cir. | 1991-01-04
No. 89-30057
Before WRIGHT, TANG and FERNANDEZ, Circuit Judges.
923 F.2d 138 United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1991) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that its prior decision affirming the denial of sentence enhancement was erroneous in light of a new Supreme Court ruling on the definition of burglary.


Facts & Procedural History

The government petitioned for rehearing after the court affirmed a sentence enhancement denial, pending a Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court su…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court

In our opinion filed December 4, 1989, cited at 890 F. 2d 1082, we affirmed the sentence given by the district court, holding that a conviction under Washington’s second degree burglary statute could not serve as a basis for sentence enhancement. The district judge had relied on prior Ninth Circuit authority in United States v. Chatman, 869 F. 2d 525 (9th Cir.1989) and United States v. Cunningham, 878 F. 2d 311 (9th Cir.1989).

The government petitioned for rehearing, suggesting that further action be withheld pending the decision by the Supreme Court in Taylor v. United States. Our order of March 15, 1990 deferred action on the government’s petition. Thereafter the Supreme Court rendered its decision in Taylor v. United States, — U.S. ——, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990).

Taylor held that, for the purposes of enhancement under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), burglary includes any unlawful entry in “a building or structure, with the intent to commit a crime.” Id. at 2158 (emphasis added). The Washington statute defines burglary broadly to include entry into places other than buildings. Wash.Rev. Code § 9A.04.110(5). All of the prior burglary convictions relied upon by the government here involved entry into buildings.1 Given that, it appears that Harkey’s prior burglary convictions should have been considered for the purpose of sentencing enhancement. See United States v. Cunningham, 911 F. 2d 361 (9th Cir.1990).

Our opinion of December 4, 1989 is withdrawn. The government’s petition for rehearing is granted. The cause is remanded to the district court for resentencing.

. In reaching our decision, we have relied upon copies of the underlying informations which were appended to the "Government’s Response to Opposition to Petition for Panel Rehearing." Nothing in this order is intended to preclude the district court from entertaining objections to those documents or from receiving other evidence, within the strictures of Taylor, and reaching a conclusion regarding the convictions based upon the evidence then before it.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw