United States v. Degeare

MORITZ, Circuit Judge.

*1244 Under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) of 1984, 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e), an offender convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1) faces an enhanced prison sentence if he or she has at least three prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drugs offenses. In theory, deciding what offenses constitute violent felonies should be simple enough. But in practice, it can be a tricky business-especially because we must be "certain" that the violent-felony moniker "necessarily" applies to a particular offense before we can treat that offense as an ACCA predicate. United…