United States v. Barrett

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The Second Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for using firearms in the commission of violent crimes. The court held that defendant's argument as to substantive Hobbs Act robbery was defeated by this court's post-Dimaya decision in United States v. Hill, 890 F.3d 51 (2d Cir. 2018), which held that substantive Hobbs Act robbery was a categorical crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3)(A). Defendant's argument as to conspiratorial Hobbs Act robbery failed for two reasons: first, circuit precedent has long recognized that a conspiracy to commit a crime of violence was itself a crime of violence, and Dimaya/Johnson warranted no different conclusion; and second, in any event, the section 924(c)(3) definitions of a crime of violence applied only to the predicate offense of a crime of pending prosecution, not a crime of prior conviction as in Dimaya and Johnson. View "United States v. Barrett" on Justia Law