Chambers v. United States, No. 06-11206; U.S. Supreme Court; opinion by Breyer, J.; concurrence by Alito, J.; decided January 13, 2009. On certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) imposes a 15-year mandatory prison term on a felon unlawfully in possession of a firearm who has three prior convictions for committing certain drug crimes or “a violent felony,” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1), defined as a crime punishable by more than one year’s imprisonment that, inter alia, “involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another,” § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii). At petitioner Chambers’ sentencing for being a felon in possession of a firearm, the government sought ACCA’s 15-year mandatory prison term. Chambers disputed one of his prior convictions — failing to report for weekend confinement — as falling outside the ACCA definition of “violent felony.” The District Court treated the failure to report as a form of what the relevant state statute calls “escape from [a] penal institution,” and held that it qualified as a “violent felony” under ACCA. The Seventh Circuit agreed.
