United States v. Richard Mathews

I. BACKGROUND

A. Mathews’s Conviction and Sentence

In 1990, the leader of Mathews’s motorcycle gang kicked him out of the gang. In retaliation, Mathews and an accomplice placed a “bomb packed with steel balls (to increase the risk of personal injury)” in the alley beside the gang leader’s home. United States v. Mathews, 120 F.3d 185, 186 (9th Cir. 1997), as amended (Aug. 6, 1997). A man unaffiliated with either Mathews or his target walked down the alley collecting cans and picked up the box that had the bomb in it. Id. The bomb detonated, and the man suffered serious injuries. Id.

Mathews was convicted of multiple felonies. Relevant here, he was convicted of maliciously damaging or destroying property by means of an explosive, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(i) (the property-damage conviction), and of using or carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) (the firearm conviction). An explosive device is a “firearm” under Section 924(c), and when a conviction under this statute is based on use of an explosive device, it carries a 30-year mandatory, consecutive sentence. 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(B)(ii). After several appeals, Mathews was…