United States v. Stephens

SUTTON, Circuit Judge.

At issue is whether the defendant’s sentence violates Johnson v. United States, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 2557, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), which invalidated the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act as unconstitutionally vague. Because the defendant would receive the same sentence even without the residual clause, no reversible error occurred.

After pleading guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine, Michael Stephens received a career-offender enhancement under the guidelines. See U.S.S.G. § 4Bl.l(a). The district court had several options available…