Smith v. United States

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Each defendant was convicted of illegally possessing a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), and is serving 180 months’ imprisonment, the statutory floor for someone convicted of that crime who has three or more earlier convictions for a violent felony or serious drug offense. The Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. 924(e)(2)(B)(ii) includes “burglary” in the list of violent felonies but does not define “burglary.” The Seventh Circuit affirmed. A conviction for residential burglary in Illinois under the 1982 revision of 720 ILCS 5/19-3 is “generic burglary” under Supreme Court precedent. In Illinois “[a] person commits residential burglary who knowingly and without authority enters the dwelling place of another with the intent to commit therein a felony or theft.” Rejecting an argument that “a tent, a vehicle, or other enclosed space” is not a “structure” under Supreme Court precedent, the court concluded that the crime of residential burglary in Illinois does not cover the entry of vehicles (including boats) and tents. People live in trailers, which are “structures” as a matter of ordinary usage. Trailers used as dwellings are covered by the Illinois residential-burglary statute. View "Smith v. United States" on Justia Law