United States v. James Earl Matthews

James Earl Matthews appeals his criminal sentence of 120 months’ imprisonment, which was imposed in accordance with U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(2), because the district court determined that his 1987 burglary of an occupied building qualified as a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(2). He argues that burglary of an occupied building in Nevada is not a crime of violence according to the United States Sentencing Guidelines, and that the appropriate Guidelines range is therefore 92-115 months.

I. BACKGROUND

In July 1998, a jury found Matthews guilty of being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g). The Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) recommended that Matthews qualified for sentencing pursuant to the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), and he was sentenced to 280 months. However, on appeal, we found that the government had failed to prove that Matthews qualified as an armed career criminal, so we vacated his sentence and remanded to the district court for re-sentencing, without limiting review to the existing record. United States v. Matthews, 278 F.3d 880, 889-90 (9th Cir.2002) (en banc). On remand, the government argued that Matthews’ base…