ACCA
50 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25A660 | Alante Martel Nelson v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2025-12-04 | Application | acca brown-v-united-states career-offender procedural-error sentencing-guidelines time-of-conviction | Whether this Court's decision in Brown v. United States, 602 U.S. 101 (2024) extends to the federal Sentencing Guidelines. | |
| 25-6126 | Nathaniel Durham v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2025-11-14 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca criminal-law multi-factor-analysis prior-offenses sentencing-enhancement structural-error | This case presents two important repeatedly occurring criminal-law questions that affect many defendants and have divided judges within the same circu… |
| 23-6871 | Jeremy Glenn Powell v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2024-02-29 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca attempted-hobbs-act-robbery categorical-approach civil-rights criminal-sentencing due-process elements-clause hobbs-act texas-robbery united-states-v-taylor | Does placing another in fear qualify as a threatened use of force under the ACCA's elements clause? |
| 23-5085 | Andre Rene Williams v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2023-07-12 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca constitutional-rights due-process fifth-amendment jury-trial non-elemental-facts preponderance-standard sentencing sentencing-enhancement sixth-amendment sixth-amendment-jury-trial | Whether the Constitution permits a sentencing judge to find non-elemental facts by a preponderance of the evidence and then rely on those facts to imp… |
| 22-806 | John Doe v. United States | First Circuit | 2023-02-24 | Denied | Response Waived | acca acca-predicates criminal-justice direct-appeal first-step-act remedial-purpose retroactive-application retroactivity statutory-interpretation | Whether a defendant whose case was pending on direct appeal at the time of enactment of the First Step Act is entitled to the benefit of §401 (limitin… |
| 22-5720 | Mark Julian Edmonds v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2022-10-03 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca armed-career-criminal-act constitutional-interpretation criminal-procedure habeas-corpus jurisdictional-challenge procedural-standard residual-clause sentencing sentencing-enhancement unconstitutional | Was Mr. Edmonds required to prove, in district court, that it is "more likely than not" that the sentencing judge "actually relied on" the ACCA's unco… |
| 22-5116 | Michael Dewayne Vickers v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2022-07-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca actual-reliance armed-career-criminal-act criminal-procedure habeas-corpus johnson-standard johnson-v-united-states jurisdictional-requirement second-or-successive-motion sentencing sentencing-reliance | After this Court struck down the Armed Career Criminal Act's residual cause in 2015, the Fifth Circuit granted Mr. Vickers permission to file a "secon… |
| 21-6858 | Dalton Laquane Smith v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2022-01-14 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 851 922(g) 922(g)-conviction acca armed-career-criminal-act career-offender first-step-act government-concession rehaif sentencing-enhancement supreme-court-precedent | 1. In light of the Court& Government concessions(twice ) that the petitioner never servedover a year,should the ACCA,851 removed in wake of theand Ca… |
| 21-6448 | Joseph D. Brown v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2021-11-30 | GVR | Relisted (4)IFP | acca career-criminal-act criminal-law criminal-procedure occasions-different occasions-test sentencing sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation temporal-analysis | 1. Should the courts employ a purely temporal approach or a "totality of the circumstances" test when interpreting the Career Criminal Act's phrase, "… |
| 20-8334 | Jerome Williams v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2021-06-16 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 2255-motion acca armed-career-criminal-act burden-of-proof eleventh-circuit habeas-corpus johnson-precedent johnson-v-united-states legal-landscape section-2255 sentencing-review | Where a § 2255 movant relies on evidence of the legal background at the time of his sentencing to prove he was sentenced under an unconstitutional law… |
| 20-8238 | Martavis Hollis Samuel v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2021-06-07 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca controlled-substance-offense criminal-law elonis florida-drug-statute mcfadden mens-rea sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation | Is a post-2002 conviction for sale of marijuana or cocaine or for possession of cocaine with intent to sell in violation of Fla. Stat. § 893.13 a "con… |
| 20-8047 | Cornelius R. Caple v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2021-05-17 | Denied | IFP | acca assault career-offender controlled-substance criminal-law elements-clause mens-rea sentencing-guidelines | I. Whether the drug conduct in the "controlled substance offense" definition in U.S. Sentencing Guideline § 4B1.2(b) requires knowledge of the illicit… |
| 20-6969 | Barto Edward Usry, Jr. v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-01-28 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca armed-career-criminal-act armed-robbery business-burglary johnson-ruling mississippi-state-convictions resentencing robbery section-2255 sentencing violent-felony | Whether Mr. Usry is entitled to resentencing without applying the ACCA because post-Johnson (2015), he no longer has three prior qualifying "violent f… |
| 20-6458 | Clayton Lee Waagner v. United States | Seventh Circuit | 2020-11-25 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca armed-career-criminal-act burglary-definition collateral-estoppel indictment indictment-statute ohio-aggravated-burglary predicate-offense statute-of-conviction statutory-interpretation | Whether the "statute of conviction" must be used for an ACC A predicate offense, or can the district court use the statute listed on the indictment in… |
| 20-6451 | Genesis Javon White v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2020-11-25 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca armed-career-criminal armed-career-criminal-act criminal-classification factual-finding occasions-different prior-convictions sentencing sentencing-enhancement serious-drug-offense serious-drug-offenses | I. WHETHER THE DISTRICT COURT ERRED IN CLASSIFYING MR. GRIFFIN AS AN ARMED CAREER CRIMINAL WHERE HIS PRIOR CONVICTIONS DID NOT QUALIFY AS "SERIOUS DRU… |
| 20-6356 | Ryan Dennis v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2020-11-17 | Denied | IFP | acca criminal-law criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus physical-force reckless-injury residual-clause sentencing sentencing-guidelines subject-matter-jurisdiction | 1. Whether an offense that can be committed by recklessly causing serious injury has "the use of physical force against the person of another" as an e… |
| 19-8489 | Jason Mitchell Abbo v. United States | Tenth Circuit | 2020-05-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca acca-enhancement burden-of-proof criminal-justice due-process equal-protection juvenile-conviction predicate-offense sentencing sentencing-enhancement | #1. Does a Juvenile Conviction for "Possession" of a controlled substance qualify as a prior predicate conviction for an ACCA enhancement when 18 U.S.… |
| 19-7677 | Sandchase Cody v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2020-02-14 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 28-U.S.C.-2255 28-usc-2255 acca district-court due-process resentencing resentencing-hearing sentencing sentencing-enhancement | Whether Mr. Cody was denied due process when after the removal of his unlawful ACCA sentencing enhancement, following a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion, the d… |
| 19-7553 | Gerald Humbert v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2020-02-05 | Denied | IFP | 11th-circuit acca armed-career-criminal-act criminal-law federal-criminal-jurisdiction federal-jurisdiction felon-in-possession mens-rea rehaif sentencing serious-drug-offense statutory-interpretation summary-remand | 1. Whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit should have granted COA as to whether Petitioner's Fla. Stat. § 893.13 drug off… |
| 19-7314 | Johnny L. Dawson v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2020-01-16 | Denied | IFP | acca acca-predicate-offense actual-innocence armed-career-criminal-act drug-offense eleventh-circuit elonis-v-united-states florida-statute mens-rea serious-drug-offense shular strict-liability supreme-court-review united-states-v-smith | 1. Whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit erroneously concluded in finding Petitioner's Fla. Stat. § 893.13 drug offenses… |
| 19-7148 | Jimmy Lee Boston v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2020-01-06 | Denied | Relisted (5)IFP | 28-usc-2244 acca acca-elements-clause armed-robbery criminal-law due-process elements-clause habeas-corpus second-or-successive-motion second-successive-motion sentencing statutory-interpretation violent-felony | Whether, categorically, a Florida conviction for principal to armed robbery, in violation of Fla. Stat. §§ 777.011 and 812.13, is a "violent felony" u… |
| 19-7115 | Alexander Faulkner v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2019-12-31 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca burglary burglary-definition categorical-approach criminal-law criminal-statute elements-clause generic-burglary sentencing sentencing-enhancement state-law statutory-interpretation supreme-court | Generic burglary must be committed in a building or structure. For non buildings like vehicles to qualify as a structure, this Court has required that… |
| 19-6799 | Aamir A. Hafiz-Thompson v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2019-12-03 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca appeal certificate-of-appealability constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance ineffective-assistance-of-counsel precedent sentencing supreme-court-precedent | 1. Nationally, where counsel admittingly is inaccurate, misinforms and fails, to. make specific inquiry regarding Petitioner's prior predicates (ACCA)… |
| 19-6308 | Ronald Detro Winder v. United States | Tenth Circuit | 2019-10-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca armed-career-criminal-act crime-of-violence curtis-johnson elements-clause injury injury-definition physical-force sentencing-guidelines | Whether a state offense that includes as an element causing injury, but which also defines "injury" broadly to include more than the "physical pain or… |
| 19-6229 | John Joseph Douglas v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2019-10-09 | Denied | IFP | acca aggravated-robbery aiding-and-abetting armed-career-criminal-act criminal-law overbreadth-doctrine predicate-offense sentencing state-law statutory-interpretation stokeling sudden-snatching | I. IF A STATES AIDING AND ABETTING STATUTE IS BROADER THAN THE FEDERAL GENERIC DEFINITION; DOES AIDING AND ABETTING AGGRAVATED ROBBERY QUALIFY AS A … |
| 19-5480 | Andrew Dorsey v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-08-06 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | acca cocaine criminal-law drug-offense drug-offenses florida florida-statute possession sentencing statutory-interpretation | I. Whether a Florida conviction for selling cocaine, delivering cocaine, or possessing cocaine with the intent to sell or deliver it, in violation of … |
| 19-5478 | Wilfredo Roy Madrigal v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-08-06 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | acca career-offender circuit-split controlled-substance-offense eleventh-circuit mens-rea sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation | Is a post-2002 conviction for sale of cocaine or possession with intent to sell cocaine in violation of Fla. Stat. § 893.13 a "controlled substance of… |
| 19-5278 | Duryane Lewis Chaney v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2019-07-22 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | acca categorical-approach criminal-law davis drug-offense sentencing serious-drug-offense statutory-interpretation violent-felony | WHETHER THE DETERMINATION OF A SERIOUS DRUG OFFENSE UNDER THE ACCA REQUIRES THE SAME CATEGORICAL APPROACH USED IN THE DETERMINATION OF A VIOLENT FELON… |
| 18-9796 | Anthony Bernard Jimerson v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-06-25 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | acca career-offender circuit-split controlled-substance-offense mens-rea sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation | Is a post-2002 conviction for sale of cocaine in violation of Fla. Stat. § 893.13 a "controlled substance offense" as defined in U.S.S8.G. § 4B1.2(b) … |
| 18-9760 | Andrew D. Dixon v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-06-21 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca acca-sentence-enhancement acca-statute armed-career-criminal-act criminal-procedure elements-clause johnson-precedent post-johnson precedent predicate-prior residual-clause sentencing sentencing-enhancement | Did the court error denying claims that the residual clause didn't apply to defendant by using Post-Johnson precedent claims and raising elements clau… |
| 18-9547 | Antwan Bernard Williams v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-06-05 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | acca acca-serious-drug-offense armed-career-criminal-act drug-offense eleventh-circuit elonis-v-united-states franklin-v-united-states mens-rea resisting-officer sentencing-enhancement strict-liability united-states-v-smith violent-felony | Whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit erroneously concluded in finding Petitioner's Fla. Stat. § 893.13 drug offenses qu… |
| 18-8911 | Gerald Humbert v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-04-22 | GVR | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | 11th-circuit acca acca-serious-drug-offense armed-career-criminal-act certiorari criminal-law criminal-procedure drug-offense eleventh-circuit florida-statute florida-statute-893-13 mens-rea serious-drug-offense statutory-interpretation united-states-v-smith | Whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit should have granted COA as to whether petitioner's Fla. Stat. § 893.13 drug offens… |
| 18-8760 | James Bernard Jones, Jr. v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-04-09 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca career-offender career-offender-enhancement constitutional-challenge criminal-procedure due-process florida-battery-on-law-enforcement habeas-corpus johnson-v-united-states non-violent-felony sentencing-enhancement sessions-v-dimaya unconstitutional violent-felony | (1) Is a sentence as a career offender (com) unvalied se valid when a fone violent ors conviction, (Kloada attery on Law en Mv Licey), LO au by wily o… |
| 18-8662 | Howard Lawson v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-04-02 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca aggravated-assault armed-career-criminal-act criminal-history-classification criminal-law due-process florida-criminal-law predicate-offenses sentencing sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation supreme-court supreme-court-precedent | Whether Petitioner's prior aggravated assault under Fla. Stat. § 784.021 and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon pursuant to Fla. Stat. 784.045 qu… |
| 18-8447 | Javis Wilson v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-03-18 | Denied | Relisted (4)IFP | acca acca-predicate armed-career-criminal-act circuit-split drug-offense elonis-v-united-states mens-rea sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation strict-liability united-states-v-smith | Whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit erroneously concluded in in finding. Petitioner's Fla. Stat. § 893.13 drug - offen… |
| 18-8380 | Woodrow Pressey, Jr. v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-03-12 | Denied | Relisted (4)IFP | 924(e)(2)(A)(ii) acca acca-predicate armed-career-criminal-act controlled-substances criminal-enhancement criminal-history drug-conviction drug-offenses florida-statute florida-statute-893.13 predicate-offense prior-convictions sentencing-enhancement serious-drug-offense serious-drug-offenses | 1. Whether prior convictions under Fla. Stat. §893.13 qualify as "serious drug offenses" for purposes of the ACCA, §924(e)(2)(A)(ii). 2. Whether Flor… |
| 18-8306 | Billy Gene Howard v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2019-03-06 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca acca-clause armed-career-criminal-act concurrent-sentencing criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus johnson-relief johnson-v-united-states sentencing sentencing-guidelines violent-felony | (1) Whether, where the record is unclear, a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petitioner should be required to "affirmatively prove" that the sentencing court relied o… |
| 18-8294 | Demetrius Fitzgerald v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-03-05 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca armed-career-criminal-act crime-of-violence criminal-law deadly-weapon federal-sentencing-guidelines florida-law florida-statute sentencing sentencing-guidelines violent-crime violent-felony | I. Whether the Florida offense of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in violation of Fla. Stat. § 784.045, is a violent felony as defined by the … |
| 18-8267 | Vincent Green v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-03-05 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | ACCA acca-offender armed-career-criminal-act categorical-approach criminal-law criminal-procedure enumerated-offense o.c.g.a.-16-7-1 sentencing sentencing-enhancement stare-decisis statutory-interpretation | PETITIONER'S SENTENCE AS AN ACCA OFFENDER MUST BE SET ASIDE, WHEREAS O.C.G.A. § 16-7-1 IS NOT A VIABLE ENUMERATED OFFENSE PREDICATE, BASED UPON THIS C… |
| 18-7642 | Kirk Lassend v. United States | First Circuit | 2019-01-29 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca accomplice-liability armed-robbery circuit-split non-dangerous-weapons sentencing strict-liability violent-felony | 1. Whether This Court Should Grant This Petition To Resolve The Circuit Split As To Whether A Crime Which Does Not Require The Actual Use Of Violent F… |
| 18-7323 | Robert Willis v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2019-01-09 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca armed-career-criminal-act career-offender criminal-law criminal-procedure drug-trafficking prior-conviction prior-convictions sentencing sentencing-enhancement statutory-maximum violent-felony | GROUND (I) WHETHER PETITIONER WILLIS'S 'B&E OCCUPIED' IS A VIOLENT FELONY UNDER ACCA? GROUND (II) WHETHER PETITIONER WILLIS'S DRUG TRAFFICKING CONVIC… |
| 18-7105 | Tavaris Jemario Hunter v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2018-12-19 | Denied | Relisted (4)IFP | acca begay-v-united-states categorical-approach circuit-split elonis-v-united-states mens-rea second-fifth-ninth-circuits serious-drug-offense staples-v-united-states statutory-interpretation strict-liability | Is a post-2002 conviction for sale of cocaine or possession of cocaine with intent to sell in violation of Fla. Stat. § 893.13 a "serious drug offense… |
| 18-7096 | Reinaldo Santos v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2018-12-19 | GVR | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (4)IFP | acca acca-violent-felony armed-career-criminal-act battery categorical-approach circuit-split descamps divisibility florida florida-battery mathis mens-rea modified-categorical-approach sixth-amendment violent-felony | 1. Is the "touches or strikes' language in the Florida battery statutes divisible under Descamps v. United States, 133 S.Ct. 2276 (2013) and Mathis v.… |
| 18-6671 | Jimmy David Malone v. United States | Sixth Circuit | 2018-11-13 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | acca constitutional-interpretation criminal-law criminal-procedure due-process federal-court federalism generic-conviction state-courts state-statute statutory-interpretation | Whether the Constitution permits a federal court to conclude that a prior conviction is "generic" for ACCA purposes based on an independent interpreta… |
| 18-6277 | Glover A. Yawn, Jr. v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2018-10-11 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | ACCA armed-career-criminal-act criminal-law elements-clause felony-battery great-bodily-harm possession-of-firearm sentencing-enhancement statutory-interpretation statutory-maximum violent-felony | The broad question presented by this case is whether the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals erroneously affirmed Mr. Yawn's sentence under the Armed Ca… |
| 18-6096 | Michael Jackson v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2018-09-25 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | 28-U.S.C.-2255 28-usc-2255 acca armed-career-criminal-act case-law evidentiary-record johnson johnson-ruling predicate-conviction residual-clause sentencing sentencing-enhancement | I. May a court may grant a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition challenging his sentence under Johnson when the evidentiary record is silent as to whether the pe… |
| 18-6013 | Richard Carl Wyatt v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2018-09-18 | Denied | IFP | acca armed-career-criminal-act constitutional-vagueness due-process elements-clause habeas-corpus habeas-corpus-review johnson-v-united-states presumption presumption-of-regularity residual-clause section-2255 sentencing sentencing-enhancement | (1) Whether a § 2255 petitioner seeking relief under Johnson must affirmatively prove that he was sentenced under the residual clause of the ACCA. (2… |
| 18-5914 | Jeffrey Scott Finney v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2018-09-07 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 28-usc-2255 acca acca-sentencing armed-career-criminal-act criminal-history criminal-procedure due-process habeas-corpus ineffective-assistance-of-counsel johnson-decision johnson-v-united-states post-conviction-relief sentencing violent-felony | Whether the District Court erred in denying Jeffrey Finney's post-Johnson motion for relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 |
| 18-5576 | DifAnkh Asar, aka James Walter Gist v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2018-08-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acca categorical-approach civil-rights constitutional-vagueness criminal-statute due-process fifth-amendment overbreadth overbreadth-doctrine sixth-amendment vagueness vagueness-doctrine | (1) Is South Carolina's Code Ann. 16-23-40 Unconstitutional on its face, as applied to Petitioner, and when read in conjunction with other laws becaus… |
| 18-5268 | Jeremiah T. Sailor v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2018-07-18 | Denied | IFP | 28-usc-2255 acca burden-of-proof collateral-review johnson johnson-v-united-states record residual-clause sentencing | 1.) Whether a court may grant a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 petition collaterally challenging a sentence under Johnson when the sentencing judge never specified … |