United States v. Frazer Scott Piccolo

Appellant Frazer Scott Piccolo appeals the district court’s determination that his conviction for walkaway escape from a halfway house is a “crime of violence” under United States Sentencing Guidelines (“Sentencing Guidelines” or “U.S.S.G.”) § 4B1.1 and that he is accordingly a “career offender” under that provision. Because we hold that the district court erred in determining that any escape is a crime of violence, we reverse and remand for resentencing.

I

On April 9, 2003, Piccolo, while residing at the Clark Community Corrections Center, a non-secure halfway house in Las Vegas, Nevada, left to attend a drug treatment meeting and did not return. He voluntarily turned himself in on February 25, 2004, and was charged with escape under 18 U.S.C. § 751 (a). Piccolo entered a guilty plea.

The Presentence Investigation Report categorized Piccolo’s walkaway escape as a crime of violence, subjecting him to the career-offender provision of the Sentencing Guidelines in light of his prior convictions for crimes of violence. That provision, U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1, provides that a defendant is a career offender if:

Piccolo did not contest the designations regarding the prior crimes in district…