Attempt to Commit Offense That Requires Actual Use of Force is 924(c) “Crime of Violence”

US v. Lassiter: In 2015, Lassiter was involved in an armed robbery in which a person was shot (Lassiter was a lookout and fired at witnesses while escaping, but did not hit anyone). As a result, he stood convicted (after a direct appeal) on five counts, including two counts each of attempted murder in aid of racketeering activity (“VICAR attempted murder) and discharge of a firearm in connection with a crime of violence – that being the VICAR attempted murder. On remand, Lassiter was sentenced to 300 months in prison.

On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed Lassiter’s convictions and vacated his sentence. Lassiter’s main challenge was that his firearm convictions were no longer valid because VICAR attempted murder was no longer a “crime of violence,” but he had not raised that issue either in his initial appeal or upon remand to the district court. Lassiter argued that the mandate of the prior appeal did not prevent him raising the issue because the “controlling legal authority has changed dramatically,” based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Taylor, which held that attempted Hobbs Act robbery is not a crime of violence because it can be committed without the use or threatened use of violent force. VICAR attempted murder, the court held, could be committed in such fashion, because the substantive offense (murder under Virginia law) required the actual of force the attempt to commit that offense involved the attempted use of force. Specifically, the court rejected Lassiter’s argument that Taylor applied to any attempted offense that might be a crime of violence, limiting it to attempted Hobbs Act robbery. The court did vacate Lassiter’s sentence due to a Rogers error in the imposition of conditions of supervised release.