NC Attempted Robbery with a Firearm is ACCA “Violent Felony”

US v. Hamilton: Hamilton pleaded guilty to a drug charge and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The probation officers identified three prior convictions that would qualify him for sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Hamilton objected, arguing that his North Carolina conviction for attempted robbery with a handgun was not a “violent felony” as defined by ACCA. The district court disagreed and imposed the mandatory minimum ACCA sentence of 180 months in prison.

On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed Hamilton’s sentence. Hamilton’s primary argument was that while completed armed robbery required the use of force, attempted armed robbery required proof only of intent to commit the offense and an overt act in furtherance of that intent. The court disagreed, holding that the language of the particular statute in North Carolina “did not create an inchoate attempt offense” but rather includes “robbery cases where the defendant attempted but did not succeed in taking personal property,” a conclusion supported by state supreme court decisions. By contrast, Hamilton’s reading “is entirely untethered from the language of” the statute.