Description: Memphis, Tennessee criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with on two counts of being
a felon in possession under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) for his role in a shooting.


Thomas maintained that he could not be sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). Because he had never been indicted for it, and the jury had not found the essential fact —that he had three prior violent-felony convictions committed on different “occasions,” —he claimed he could only be subject to the penalties associated with § 922(g)(1). Otherwise, his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights would be violated.

Outcome: A jury found the Defendant guilty.

Throughout sentencing, Thomas maintained that he could not be sentenced under the
Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). Because he had never been
indicted for it, and the jury had not found the essential fact —that he had three prior violent-
felony convictions committed on different “occasions,” —he claimed he could only be subject to
the penalties associated with § 922(g)(1). Otherwise, his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights
would be violated.

The district judge disagreed. Following then-binding Sixth Circuit precedent, the judge
found the fact of Thomas’s three prior convictions by a preponderance of evidence at sentencing,
and imposed an enhanced, 432-month sentence on Thomas. We affirmed. But the Supreme
Court later decided Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821 (2024), which held that the Fifth and
Sixth Amendments require a jury to find the three-occasions element of an ACCA conviction.

Affirmed

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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