Usav.Edwin Deshazior
Edwin Deshazior appealed a 180-month sentence imposed after his conviction for possessing a firearm as a felon. He argued that the Armed Career Criminal Act did not apply because his prior Florida convictions were not violent felonies and that the prior convictions had not been alleged in the indictment or proved to a jury. The Eleventh Circuit held that Florida convictions for aggravated assault and resisting an officer with violence qualified as violent felonies under the Act’s categorical analysis. It further held that sexual battery with a deadly weapon qualified under the Act’s elements clause, giving Deshazior at least three qualifying convictions without requiring the court to decide whether his kidnapping conviction also qualified. The court rejected the indictment and jury-proof argument under controlling precedent recognizing the prior-conviction exception. Because the enhancement was proper, the court affirmed the sentence.
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