MURPHY, Circuit Judge.
Edward Benito Armijo pleaded guilty to a single count of being a felon illegally in possession of a firearm. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The Presentence Investigation Report ("PSR") concluded Armijo's base offense level was twenty-four because he had two prior felony convictions for crimes of violence. U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(2) (2008)
Armijo asserts the district court erred in treating his Colorado convictions as crimes of violence for purposes of § 2K2.1(a)(2). Furthermore, for the first time on appeal, he argues the district court erred in considering his felony menacing conviction for the additional reason that the conviction is stale. See U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1 cmt. n. 10 (providing that for purposes of § 2K2.1(a)(2) "use only those felony convictions that receive criminal history points under § 4A1.1(a), (b), or (c)"); id. § 4A1.2(e) (providing that prior convictions not exceeding "one year and one month" that were not "imposed within ten years of the defendant's commencement of the instant offense" are not counted for purposes of § 4A1.1); id. § 4A1.1 cmt. n. 3 (same). Exercising jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C.
This court reviews sentences for reasonableness under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. United States v. Sayad, 589 F.3d 1110, 1116 (10th Cir.2009). "Reasonableness review is a two-step process comprising a procedural and a substantive component." United States v. Verdin-Garcia, 516 F.3d 884, 895 (10th Cir.2008). For its sentencing decision to be procedurally reasonable, a district court must, inter alia, correctly compute the applicable Guidelines range. Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51, 128 S.Ct. 586, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). "Review for substantive reasonableness focuses on whether the length of the sentence is reasonable given all the circumstances of the case in light of the factors set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)." United States v. Friedman, 554 F.3d 1301, 1307 (10th Cir.2009) (quotation omitted). Each of the issues Armijo raises on appeal implicates only the procedural reasonableness of his sentence. Accordingly, this court focuses exclusively on the question whether the district court erred in calculating Armijo's advisory Guidelines range
Armijo contends the district court erred in concluding his Colorado state felony menacing conviction and his Colorado state manslaughter conviction are crimes of violence for purposes of § 2K2.1(a)(2). This court reviews de novo the district court's conclusion that Armijo's Colorado state felony convictions constitute crimes of violence for purposes of the Guidelines. United States v. Vigil, 334 F.3d 1215, 1218 (10th Cir.2003). In interpreting the Guidelines, this court looks "at the language in the guideline itself, as well as at the interpretative and explanatory commentary to the guideline provided by the Sentencing Commission." United States v. McConnell, 605 F.3d 822, 824 (10th Cir.2010) (quotation omitted). "Commentary to the Guidelines is authoritative unless it violates the Constitution or a federal statute, or is inconsistent with, or a plainly erroneous reading of, that guideline." Id. (quotations omitted).
Section 2K2.1(a)(2) establishes a base offense level of twenty-four "if the defendant committed any part of the instant offense subsequent to sustaining at least two felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense." U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(2).
Id. § 4B1.2(a). The application notes to § 4B1.2(a) further provide that
Id. § 4B1.2 cmt. n. 1.
"In determining whether a conviction qualifies as a crime of violence under § 4B1.2, we apply a categorical approach that looks to the words of the statute and judicial interpretations of it, rather than to the conduct of any particular defendant convicted of that crime." McConnell, 605 F.3d at 825 (quotations omitted). "As the Supreme Court recently explained, under the categorical approach we consider the offense generically, that is to say, we examine it in terms of how the law defines the offense and not in terms of how an individual offender might have committed it on a particular occasion." United States v. Rooks, 556 F.3d 1145, 1147 (10th Cir.2009) (quotation omitted). If the criminal statute setting out the predicate felony "is ambiguous, or broad enough to encompass both violent and nonviolent crimes, we employ the so-called `modified categorical approach' which allows analysis of certain records of the prior proceeding, such as the charging documents, the judgment, any plea thereto, and findings by the sentencing court." United States v. Charles, 576 F.3d 1060, 1067 (10th Cir.2009) (quotations and citation omitted). Review under the modified categorical approach "does not involve a subjective inquiry into the facts of the case, but rather its purpose is to determine which part of the statute was charged against the defendant and, thus, which portion of the statute to examine on its face." Id. (quotation omitted).
According to Colorado law, "[a] person commits the crime of menacing if, by any threat or physical action, he or she knowingly places or attempts to place another person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury." Colo.Rev.Stat. § 18-3-206. Menacing is a felony if it is accomplished by the use or threatened use of a "deadly weapon." Id. Colorado defines the term "deadly weapon" broadly to include not only guns, knives, and bludgeons, but also "[a]ny other weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, whether animate or inanimate." Id. § 18-1-901(e).
As Armijo recognizes, this court previously concluded Colorado felony menacing is categorically a violent felony for purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act
Id. (citation omitted).
Armijo argues, however, that Herron does not control the outcome of this appeal because it failed to recognize felony menacing could be committed through the use of a material or substance such as poison or pathogen. See Colo.Rev.Stat. § 18-1-901(e) (defining "deadly weapon" to include, inter alia, a "material[] or substance, whether animate or inanimate"); People v. Shawn, 107 P.3d 1033, 1036 (Colo.App.2004) (holding that HIV is a deadly weapon for purposes of the Colorado felony menacing statute). In particular, Armijo asserts this court's post-Herron decision in United States v. Rodriguez-Enriquez, 518 F.3d 1191, 1195 (10th Cir.2008), makes clear that "injury effected by chemical action on the body (as in poisoning or exposure to hazardous chemicals) should not be described as caused by physical force."
We conclude Armijo's reliance on Rodriguez-Enriquez is unavailing. Given that this court has concluded analysis under the ACCA applies equally to § 4B1.2(a), Charles, 576 F.3d at 1068 n. 2, we specifically adopt the reasoning in Herron to hold Colorado felony menacing is
Armijo asserts the Colorado Court of Appeals decision in Shawn stands for the broad proposition that poisons or pathogens always satisfy the use-of-a-deadly-weapon element of Colorado felony menacing, no matter how the poison or pathogen is used or threatened to be used. He also asserts this court's decision in Rodriguez-Enriquez stands for the broad proposition that use, or threatened use, of a poison or pathogen can never satisfy the physical force requirement of § 4B1.2(a)(1). Thus, according to Armijo, Colorado felony menacing is categorically not a crime of violence. Armijo's descriptions of the holdings of these cases are less than accurate.
This court in Rodriguez-Enriquez was tasked with deciding whether the Colorado crime of assault two (drugging a victim) is a crime of violence for purposes of U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii).
Id. at 1195.
Unlike the statute at issue in Rodriguez-Enriquez, Colorado felony menacing requires as an element the use or threatened use of physical force. Colo. Stat. Ann. § 18-3-206. This is true even if the deadly weapon in question is a poison or pathogen. In Shawn, the Colorado Court
Thus, an examination of Rodriguez-Enriquez and Shawn refutes Armijo's broad assertion that this court can no longer consider Colorado felony menacing as categorically a crime of violence because poisons and pathogens qualify as deadly weapons under Colorado law. Instead, Rodriguez-Enriquez stands for the limited proposition that a Colorado provision criminalizing the surreptitious drugging of a victim does not involve the use of physical force. 318 F.3d at 1195. Shawn stands for the limited proposition that a threat to infect the victim with a potentially deadly virus during the course of a physical attack satisfies the elements of Colorado felony menacing. Neither of these cases casts any doubt on this court's reasoning in Herron that led to the conclusion Colorado felony menacing is a violent felony for purposes of the ACCA. 432 F.3d at 1138. Because this court looks to interpretations of the ACCA to guide our interpretation of § 4B1.2(a), Charles, 576 F.3d at 1068 n. 2, we thus conclude Herron compels the determination Colorado felony menacing is a crime of violence for purposes of § 4B1.2(a)(1). Accordingly, the district court correctly resolved that Armijo's Colorado felony menacing conviction is categorically a crime of violence.
In Colorado, a person commits manslaughter if he "recklessly causes the death of another person." Colo.Rev.Stat. § 18-3-104(1)(a).
This issue comes before the court in a somewhat unusual posture. In arguing Armijo's Colorado manslaughter conviction is a crime of violence for purposes of § 4B1.2(a), the United States neither cites to nor mentions the language of the Guideline. That is, the United States does not contend Colorado's version of manslaughter "has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another." U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(1). Likewise, the United States does not contend Colorado's version of manslaughter "is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another." Id. § 4B1.2(a)(2). Instead, the United States focuses exclusively on the fact that the term "manslaughter" is listed as a qualifying crime in application note 1 to § 4B1.2. The reason for the United States's approach is clear: in interpreting the language of, or language identical to that used in § 4B1.2(a), this court has specifically held that only those crimes with a mens rea of intent or purpose qualify as crimes of violence.
For instance, in Zuniga-Soto, this court analyzed whether assault on a public servant in violation of the Texas penal code was a crime of violence for purposes of U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2. 527 F.3d at 1114. To qualify as a crime of violence for purposes of § 2L1.2, the Texas assault crime had to have "as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another." U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 cmt. n. 1(B)(iii); Zuniga-Soto, 527 F.3d at 1115. This language is identical to the first of the two alternate definitions of crime of violence set out in § 4B1.2(a). Compare U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 cmt. n. 1(B)(iii), with id. § 4B1.2(a)(1). Relying on numerous Supreme Court and circuit court authorities, Zuniga-Soto held unequivocally that "a mens rea of recklessness does not satisfy use of physical force requirement under § 2L1.2's definition of `crime of violence.'" 527 F.3d at 1124 (collecting cases).
Perhaps recognizing, for those reasons set out above, that Colorado's version of manslaughter does not fall within either of the two definitions of crime of violence set out in the text of § 4B1.2(a), the United States argues Armijo's manslaughter conviction is a crime of violence simply because manslaughter is a listed crime in application note 1 to § 4B1.2. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2 cmt. n. 1 ("`Crime of violence' includes murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, aggravated assault, forcible sex offenses, robbery, arson, extortion, extortionate extension of credit, and burglary of a dwelling."). Acknowledging Colorado's choice in terminology is not determinative,
Although the United States's argument is not without some modicum of analytical force,
As discussed above, the Guideline relating to possession of firearms by prohibited persons sets a defendant's base offense level by reference to, inter alia, the defendant's criminal history. U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a). Built into § 2K2.1, however, is a limitation on considering "stale" convictions. Application note 10 to § 2K2.1 provides that for the purpose of increasing
For the first time on appeal, Armijo argues the district court erred in utilizing his felony menacing conviction in calculating his base offense level because that conviction is stale. The PSR establishes Armijo was sentenced to three years' probation on his felony menacing conviction on October 9, 1998. It further establishes he commenced the instant offense on May 29, 2009, when he was arrested in possession of a Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol. Based on these facts, Armijo asserts the district court plainly erred in considering his felony menacing conviction in calculating his offense level.
In its response brief, the United States concedes the probationary sentence originally imposed in Colorado state court on October 9, 1998, is stale and thus not counted under the terms of §§ 2K2.1 cmt. n. 1 and 4A1.2(e)(2). It notes, however, that the PSR reveals his probation was "reimposed for 3 years as intensive supervision probation" on August 13, 1999. The United States asserts this Colorado state court action on August 13, 1999, counts as a "prior sentence" for purposes of § 4A1.2(e). Furthermore, because the August
In reply, Armijo asserts the United States's argument is inconsistent with both the Guidelines and Colorado law. In particular, Armijo notes the very limited information in the PSR reveals the following regarding the Colorado state court's actions on August 13, 1999: "Probation reimposed for 3 years as intensive supervision probation." Although the PSR does not say so specifically, it appears this action followed the filing of a probation violation complaint on June 9, 1999. The Colorado statutes governing probation do not use the term "reimpose." Instead, at the time in question, if a court determined a probationer violated a condition of probation, the court had only two choices: "either revoke or continue the probation." Colo.Rev.Stat. § 16-11-206(5) (1999). If probation was revoked, the court could "then impose any sentence or grant any probation pursuant to the provisions [of Colorado law] which might originally have been imposed or granted." Id. Even if the court chose to continue probation, it had the inherent power to "reduce or increase the term of probation or alter the conditions or impose new conditions." Id. § 16-11-204(4) (1999). Thus, by operation of Colorado law, the actions of the Colorado state court on August 13, 1999, amounted to either a continuation of probation with a modified term, pursuant to Colo.Rev.Stat. §§ 16-11-204(4), -206(5), or the revocation of probation accompanied by the imposition of a new sentence of probation, pursuant to the terms of Colo.Rev.Stat. § 16-11-206(5).
Armijo argues that under either scenario, it is plain his menacing conviction is stale under the terms of § 4A1.2(e)(2) and thus can not be considered as a prior felony crime of violence for purposes of § 2K1.2(a)(2). If his term of probation was simply continued with modification on August 13, 1999, it is clearly not a sentence imposed within ten years of the instant weapon-possession conviction for purposes of U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e). On the other hand, Armijo argues, if his sentence was actually revoked and a new probationary sentence was imposed on August 13, 1999, the matter is controlled by U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(k)(2)(B):
Because he was never sentenced to imprisonment totaling more than thirteen months,
Armijo has made a convincing showing that (1) the district court erred in considering his felony menacing conviction in arriving at his offense level and (2) the district court's error is plain on appeal.
This matter is
BRISCOE, Chief Judge, concurring.
I concur in the result. I join in the majority opinion, except for the discussion of United States v. Rodriguez-Enriquez, 518 F.3d 1191 (10th Cir.2008), and People v. Shawn, 107 P.3d 1033 (Colo.Ct.App. 2004), at pp. 1231-33. I would conclude simply that we are bound by our prior ruling in United States v. Herron, 432 F.3d 1127 (10th Cir.2005), which squarely
Id. at 2276 (quotation and citations omitted). Thus, Sykes makes clear that only those crimes involving intentional conduct fall within the terms of the ACCA's residual clause. Because § 4B1.2's definition of a crime of violence is almost identical to the ACCA's definition of violent felony, the Supreme Court's decision in Sykes applies equally to the resolution of this appeal. Charles, 576 F.3d at 1068 n. 2.