USCA1 Opinion

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
____________________

No. 96-2332

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Appellee,

v.

MICHAEL V. SCHOFIELD,

Defendant, Appellant.

____________________

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

[Hon. Ronald R. Lagueux, U.S. District Judge]

___________________

____________________

Before

Torruella, Chief Judge,

___________

Campbell, Senior Circuit Judge,

____________________

and Boudin, Circuit Judge.

_____________

____________________

George J. West, by Appointment of the Court, for appellant.

______________
Margaret E. Curran, Assistant United
___________________
Sheldon Whitehouse,
__________________

United States

States Attorney, with

Attorney, and Gerard B. Sulliv

_________________

Assistant United States Attorney, were on brief for the United Stat

____________________

June 10, 1997

____________________

Per Curiam.
__________

Michael Schofield pled

guilty to one count

of

being a

922(g),

years

"felon in

possession" of

and received

a mandatory

imprisonment

("ACCA"),

id.
___

under

the

924(e)(1).

arguing that certain prior

a firearm,

minimum sentence

Armed

He

18 U.S.C.

Career

now appeals

of 15

Criminal

Act

this sentence,

state convictions in Rhode Island

do not count as "predicate offenses" triggering the ACCA.

We

disagree and affirm.

The

ACCA

establishes

sentence for any person

three

mandatory

minimum

who violates section 922(g)

and has

prior convictions "for

drug offense, or both,

one another."

15-year

a violent felony

or a serious

committed on occasions different from

18 U.S.C.

924(e)(1).

Prior to Schofield's

guilty plea, the government filed an information charging him

with six

prior "violent felony" convictions,

described

in his

On appeal,

he

violent felony

Schofield

Presentence Investigation

does not

of one

does,

convictions

challenge the

Report ("PSR").

classification as

robbery conviction.

however,

were

which are also

not

for

argue

See PSR
___

that

"violent

the

felonies"

40.

other

five

within

the

meaning of the statute.

Schofield's

argument

respect to

his prior

See
___

38.

PSR

knocked

seem

extraordinary

conviction for second

In the

his victim

might

course

to the

of that

pavement and

-2-2-

with

degree robbery.

offense, Schofield

stole

her purse--

certainly

"violent"

level of

abstraction

predicate

prior offenses,

600 (1990).

to

only to

and not

convictions."

But the

and requires

convictions,

approach, looking

those

conduct.

employ

ACCA operates

courts,

"a

at a

in

determining

formal

categorical

the statutory definitions

to the particular

of the

facts underlying

Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575,

______
______________

Nevertheless,

offense is

ACCA.

The

Rhode

Island's

plainly a predicate

statute--unchanged

second

"robbery or

other larceny

robbery

offense for purposes

in

pertinent

Schofield's violation in 1991--defines second

as

degree

from the

of the

part

since

degree robbery

person by

force or

threat, where there is no weapon and no injury and the victim

is

neither a handicapped person or an elderly person."

Gen.

Laws

11-39-1.

The

undoubtedly brings the offense

"force

or threat"

R.I.

requirement

within the ACCA's category of

violent felonies, which includes any felony that, inter alia,

__________

"has

of

as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use

physical force against the person of another."

924(e)(2)(B).1

18 U.S.C.

____________________

1Accord
______
Cir.

1995)

"violent

United States v.
_____________
(New

felony"),

York

Brown, 52
_____

F.3d 415,

attempted robbery

cert. denied,
____________

United States v. Presley, 52

______________
_______

116

S.

F.3d 64, 69

426 (2d

conviction

is

Ct. 754

(1996);

(4th Cir.), cert.

_____

denied, 116 S. Ct. 237 (1995) (Virginia robbery conviction is

______
"violent felony"); United States
_____________
584 (7th Cir. 1990)

v. Dickerson, 901 F.2d 579,

_________

(Illinois robbery conviction is "violent

felony").

-3-3-

We

are

left

to

determine

Schofield's breaking and entering

predicate

offense, bringing

"violent

felonies."

One

breaking

and entering

violation of R.I.

have

previously

violate this

U.S.S.G.

F.2d

(1st

(1993); and cases

one

three the

those

commercial or

11-8-4.

that convictions

more

total number

convictions

was

public building

See
___

for

of

PSR

39.2

conspiracy

of

for

in

We

to

felonies" within the

4B1.2(1), United States

_____________

Cir. 1992),

or

convictions can serve as a

same statute are "violent

meaning of

1, 4

of

Gen. Laws

held

to

whether

v. Fiore, 983
_____

cert. denied, 507

_____________

interpreting that provision

U.S.

1024

are pertinent

in

construing the

United States
_____________

(Under

occupied

Because the

felonies"

category, see
___

v. Winter, 22 F.3d 15, 18 n.3 (1st Cir. 1994).

______

Taylor,
______

or

ACCA's "violent

it

there

is

was

irrelevant whether

any

actual

the

school

threatened

schoolhouse breaking and entering

was

violence.)

offense was a

violent felony, we need not consider the other three breaking

and entering convictions.

Finally,

Schofield

contends

offenses were not "committed

that

the

various

prior

on occasions different from one

____________________

2As

Schofield observes,

documents do not indicate

statute under

the state

judgment and

other

the specific breaking and entering

which Schofield was convicted.

But Schofield

does not

dispute the PSR's

involved

the

building.

breaking

and

portrayal of the
entering

Section 11-8-4 is the

and entering statute

See R.I. Gen. Laws
___

of

offense, which
public

school

only Rhode Island breaking

that would have applied to

this crime.

11-8-2 et seq.
_______

-4-4-

another,"

as required by section 924(e)(1).

question that the

relied

took

place

But there is no

three predicate offenses on which

on

different

dates

and

at

we have

different

locations,

v.

Riddle, 47
______

thinking

adopted a

the

and that is all the ACCA requires.

F.3d 460,

primarily

about

definition of

duration of

462 (1st

the

we

Cir. 1995).

protection

of

armed career criminal

the career

intervals or arrests between

district court

United States
_____________

. .

. or

the lack

the crimes."

properly sentenced Schofield

Id.
___

"Congress,

the

public,

that ignores

of lengthy

Because the

under the ACCA,

need not reach his challenges to the alternative sentence

imposed under the Sentencing Guidelines.

Affirmed.
________

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