United States v. Owens

DUBINA, Chief Judge:

In this case we are called upon to determine if convictions for second degree rape and second degree sodomy under Alabama law are violent felonies under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), as defined by the Supreme Court in Johnson v. United States, — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010). We conclude that neither offense qualifies as a violent felony. Accordingly, we vacate Appellant Christopher Dwayne Owens’s sentence and remand to the district court for resentencing.

I. BACKGROUND

A grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama indicted Owens…