UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. KAREEM ANTWAN DOCTOR
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Gregory, Nov. 21, 2016,
ACCA – South Carolina robbery qualifies as a predicate for ACCA

(Concur- Wilkinson – Yeah, great opinion, but we need to do away with this entire approach to ACCA predicates)

Sorry, I’m not nearly invested enough in the ACCA debate to read the entirety of Wilkinson’s dissent

Facts: Kareem Doctor was questioned with relation to a stolen cellular phone and led police to a handgun he had in his couch. Doctor had two prior convictions of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and one prior South-Carolina conviction for robbery.
Doctor claimed that the robbery conviction wasn’t a “violent felony” because it could be done through “intimidation” without “threatened use of force.” The 4th Circuit disagreed, holding that “intimidation” under SC law involved the “threatened use of force.”
The Armed Career Criminal Act – 18 USC 924(e) – Is a federal sentencing provision for those convicted of illegal possession of a firearm. It requires a mandatory minimum of 15 years unsuspended for those with three previous (separate) “violent felony” and/or “serious drug offense” convictions.
ACCA – A state conviction can count as one (or more) of the three predicate “violent felony” or “serious drug offense” convictions.
ACCA – A state conviction counts as a “violent felony” if it “has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another” or “is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.” It must also carry a maximum sentence of over a year.
ACCA – A state conviction counts as a “serious drug offense” if it involves “manufacturing, distributing, or possessing with intent to manufacture or distribute, a controlled substance” and carries a maximum sentence of ten years or more.

The ACCA defines “violent felony,” in pertinent part, as “any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year” that “has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.”

South Carolina strong arm robbery and common law robbery are “synonymous terms for a common law offense whose penalty is provided for by statute.

SC robbery is the “felonious or unlawful taking of money, goods, or other personal property of any value from the person of another or in his presence by violence or by putting such person in fear.” A defendant can thus commit robbery in South Carolina by alternative means of “violence” or “intimidation.”

Where crime of robbery may be committed by either violence or intimidation, it meets the “force” element to serve as a “violent felony” ACCA predicate.