US v. White: Back in March of last year, the Fourth Circuit certified a question to the Virginia Supreme Court - can common law robbery be committed by threatening to accuse the victim of having committed sodomy (as well threatening the use of force)? At the time the court held that if it did, it would not qualify as a "violent felony" under the Armed Career Criminal Act. In November, the Virginia Supreme Court answered the question in the affirmative, tracking that element of the offense way back into the common law of pre-Revolution England. With that decided, in this final opinion the Fourth Circuit follows through on its initial observation and concludes that White was improperly sentenced under ACCA due to the classification of his robbery conviction as a violent felony.
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