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7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: Jerry L. Van Cannon v. United States of America
Case No.: 17-2631
Officials: SYKES and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges, and LEE, District Judge
Focus: Sentencing Guidelines
In 2009 Jerry Van Cannon pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm as a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1). He was sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), which imposes higher penalties on 922(g) violators who have three prior convictions for a “violent felony” or “serious drug offense.” Id. 924(e). Van Cannon’s presentence report identified five qualifying ACCA predicates, including Iowa convictions for burglary and attempted burglary and a Minnesota conviction for second-degree burglary. The district judge accepted this tally and imposed the mandatory minimum 15-year prison term. In 2015 the Supreme Court invalidated, on vagueness grounds, the provision in the “violent felony” definition known as the “residual...