Thursday, June 19, 2014

NC "Breaking or Entering" Conviction is Crime of Violence Under ACCA

US v. Mungro: Mungro was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm.  He was sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal based (in part) on prior North Carolina convictions for "breaking or entering."  The district court concluded that those were "violent felonies" under ACCA because they met the generic definition of burglary set out by the Supreme Court.

On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed.  It concluded that, although the statutory language in North Carolina would appear to make "breaking or entering" much broader than the traditional burglary identified by the Supreme Court, state courts had narrowed the language to reflect preexisting North Carolina common law that required the state to prove the defendant was acting without the consent of the building owner.

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