United States v. Blanton

We must determine whether the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits the government from appealing a district court’s allegedly erroneous denial of an Armed Career Criminal Act sentencing enhancement.

I

Dominique Blanton was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department on April 19, 2003, and charged by the State of California with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition in violation of CaLPenal Code § 12021(a)(1). Blanton was convicted of that offense in Los Ange-les County Superior Court on May 1, 2003.

Based on the same arrest, on March 5, 2004, a federal grand jury charged Blanton with being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1). The federal indictment included a charge under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e), that Blan-ton committed the offense after having sustained at least three prior violent felony convictions. Those convictions included an assault with a deadly weapon charge under CaLPenal Code § 245(a)(1), as well as three qualifying juvenile delinquent adjudications—two convictions for robbery under CaLPenal Code § 211, and one conviction for voluntary manslaughter, under…