United States v. Johnson

The Ninth Circuit affirmed defendant's sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The panel held that defendant's concessions in the district court foreclosed his newly minted argument that his underlying conviction for violation of California Penal Code 245(a)(1) was not actually a felony under California law; defendant failed to establish, in the alternative, that he received a misdemeanor sentence for his section 245(a)(1) conviction; Moncrieffe v. Holder, 569 U.S. 184 (2013), did not alter this court's longstanding precedents holding that a felony conviction under section 245(a)(1) is a crime of violence; a wobbler conviction is punishable as a felony, even if the court later exercises its discretion to reduce the offense to a misdemeanor; and the panel rejected defendant's challenges to the crime of violence enhancement to defendant's offense level. View "United States v. Johnson" on Justia Law