This is an ACCA “violent felony” issue case. So here we go down the rabbit hole again to a realm where we must close our eyes as judges to what we know as men and women. It is a pretend place in which a crime that the defendant committed violently is transformed into a non-violent one because other defendants at other times may have been convicted, or future defendants could be convicted, of violating the same statute without violence. Curiouser and curiouser it has all become, as the holding we must enter in this case shows. Still we are required to follow the rabbit.So, who is the rabbit? The rule of law?
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When you get to the end of this case, you wonder why you read it.
ReplyDeleteNothing new here. Most 11th Circuit decisions come from the curiouser and curiouser rabbit hole.
ReplyDeleteIf "interesting" means totally obnoxious, yes it's an interesting open.
ReplyDeleteGotta love Judge Rosenbaum. Don't give up. Never give up.
The language for the intro is interesting. It foreshadows that this case will be useful for defense counsel, but also comes off as disrespectful to the Supreme Court's categorical approach case law. But, Davis is a piece of shit at the end of the day. At the end of the day, the fault lays on the Alabama prosecutors who didn't slam the book on him.
ReplyDeleteAs for immigration cases, this case is filled with many golden nuggets. Some immigration judges (administrative bureaucrats) use the modified approach as a license to go on a fishing expedition to determine the facts of a prior crime. The intro language serves to confirm that the categorical approach is a "pretend place" and Judge Carnes was clear that the modified approach is for determining elements only. There is also great language on retroactivity of judicial decisions which some IJs fail to recognize.
Davis is still a shitty person though.
What purpose does it serve that the Chief Judge tells everyone that he's "reluctantly" following the law? Does that promote respect for the law?
ReplyDeleteI think Carnes self-identifies as Alice
ReplyDeleteYou are all misrepresenting the sentiments expressed and then feigning outrage. The 11th circuit is not 'reluctantly' following the law. They are 'reluctantly' finding rape does not constitute a violent felony.
ReplyDeleteSuggesting the reference to the rabbit hole somehow equates with to being against the rule of law is so absurd. I get it you think no defendant including a convicted rapist should be subject to a min-man that ties the judge's hands. But seriously, you are reducing you own blog to simplistic taking points like a politician...in fact you sound like trump not a lawyer with actual substantive thoughts worth sharing...
Read the intro again. Carnes is clearly saying that he does not like the methodology that the Supreme Court has required the lower courts to apply.
ReplyDeleteCarnes in opinion after opinion demonstrates that he dislikes both criminal defendants and their lawyers.