United States v. Demetrius Jerome Hayes

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:

We must decide whether possessing an unregistered sawed-off shotgun is a crime of violence for purposes of the Career Offender provisions of the Sentencing Guidelines. We hold that it is and affirm Hayes’ sentence.

I

A jury convicted Hayes of being a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun, 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d). Because the district court found that these were crimes of violence and that Hayes had two previous felony convictions for violent crimes, it sentenced him as a career offender. Hayes…