MEMBERS IN THE NEWS ________________________________________________________________________ Assistant Federal Defender and FACDL Board Member had a petition for cert granted by the U.S. Supreme Court this week. The 2 issues in the case are: 1. Whether, when a state’s highest court holds that a given offense of that state does not have as an element the use or threatened use of physical force, that holding is binding on federal courts in determining whether that same offense qualifies as a “violent felony” under the federal Armed Career Criminal Act, which defines “violent felony” as, inter alia, any crime that “has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” 2. Whether this court should resolve a circuit split on whether a prior state conviction for simple battery is in all cases a “violent felony” - a prior offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another. Further, whether this court should resolve a circuit split on whether the physical force required is a de minimis touching in the sense of “Newtonian mechanics” or whether the physical force required must be in some way violent in nature - that is the sort of force that is intended to cause bodily injury, or at a minimum likely to do so." Congratulations to Lisa Call and good luck on your oral argument in the Big Leagues!
________________________________________________________________________ To submit Member News items please email Martha Rodriguez at martha@facdl.org |
