http://www.nlpa.com/documents/carcrim.htm

Hello everyone, My name is bradford lazarski, 27 yr. I am :new: to this site and I am very pleased that i found it. It has answeared so many questions for me. In Oct 2002 I was caught in possesion of a firearm while being a convicted felon. I was charged by the state than 5 months later the Feds picked up the case.
I was told by my Attorney that i would recieve not less than 5 years and no more than 10 years. I plead guilty in may 2004 and since than i have recieved a copy of my presentence report. As it turns out I am being considered as a "armed career criminal" because of 4 prior felony charges of entering a automobile, when i was 17 years old.
If a felon if poss. of a firearm has three or more violent crimes he/she receive a enhancement. It sounds crazy that breaking into a car is considered a violent crime.
If anyone has any information concerning a "armed career criminal" enhancement being dropped please post it here.
Thank you all for viewing my post and god bless you and your loved ones. Bradford Lazarski

I'm sorry that I do not have the answers to your questions, but I wanted to welcome you to PTO. This is a great place of support and info. Glad you found us!!

I wish I had something good for you... We have been hit with the armed career criminal as well and I have always questioned how it seems like double jeopardy in a way. As a juvenile, he was convicted and served out his time whether it was probation or time served. It's a shame those juvenile convictions...come back to haunt you in the future in HUGE ways! It's like your serving time all over for things you did years ago, that time has already been served!

Make sure you do a search on the internet...you never know if that one thing will come up that will help you out! If I can find something, I will surely share it with you!

Good luck...

Diane

Your situation sounds almost exacly like my B/f's(felonly possesion). He was also got in lots of trouble when he was a teen. What our lawyer did was argue that they were "Overstating his Criminal History". It worked for him, and he did get a downward depauture.

He broke into cars when he was 17 also, and he caught the fed case when he was 27 (10 years later). We had family members write letters to the judge.

Good Luck to you!!!!

:angry:

Brad:
As I stated to you in my e-mail, you and your Counsel MUST fight that enhancement! There is much case law to support the application of this enhancement was intended by the USSC (in its infinite wisdom) to apply to serious VIOLENT armed felons with a significant history of such crimes as drug distribution, robbery, rape, kidnaping, etc. It is generally almost considered "double dipping" when a defendant is charged with simple Felon in Possession.

The Commission was almost certainly not contemplating a "crime of violence" as breaking into automobiles when it formulated this enhancement. Much good law is out there to support the fact that property crimes (like burglary) are only considered violent if it involves burglary of an OCCUPIED dwelling; sometimes not even then. Also, the person who posted about the downward departure for over-representation of criminal history is another viable option in your case. You MUST object to the application of this enhancement! In my experience, it is always worth fighting as most Judges, even conservative ones, recognize that this enhancement should only be reserved for the most dangerous and recidivistic defendants. I, myself, have "given in" on this issue during the objection phase of the PSI process.