Background
Police arrested Markel Strong after stopping him for driving a vehicle with an invalid temporary tag and heavily tinted windows. During an inventory search, officers found a loaded 9mm pistol and additional ammunition. Ballistics testing linked the pistol to a shooting during an attempted vehicle break-in at a hotel parking lot.
A jury convicted Strong of possessing a firearm as a felon under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Based on two prior aggravated-assault convictions and a Tennessee conviction for burglarizing a building under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-14-402(a)(1), the district court applied the Armed Career Criminal Act. It calculated a Guidelines range of 262 to 327 months but varied downward and sentenced Strong to 221 months. Strong challenged both the ACCA enhancement and the substantive reasonableness of the sentence.
The Court’s Holding
The Sixth Circuit affirmed, holding that Strong’s Tennessee burglary conviction qualifies as an ACCA violent felony. The Tennessee burglary statute is divisible, and charging documents showed that Strong was convicted under subsection (a)(1). Existing circuit precedent establishes that convictions under that subsection fit the generic definition of burglary. The court declined to consider the particular facts of Strong’s offense—breaking into a backyard shed and stealing gardening equipment—because the categorical analysis concerns statutory elements, not how the defendant committed the crime.
The court also held that the 221-month sentence was substantively reasonable. The district court considered the seriousness of Strong’s conduct, deterrence, his violent behavior and rule violations while in custody, and mitigating evidence concerning his upbringing, mental health, family circumstances, education, and vocational needs. It also varied 41 months below the Guidelines range because Strong’s prior burglary was a relatively minor example of an otherwise qualifying offense. Strong did not meet the heavy burden required to overturn that below-Guidelines sentence.
Key Takeaways
- A conviction under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-14-402(a)(1) qualifies as generic burglary and therefore as an ACCA violent felony under binding Sixth Circuit precedent.
- Courts applying the categorical approach compare statutory elements and do not examine the defendant’s specific manner of committing the prior offense.
- The Sixth Circuit upheld the 221-month sentence because the district court reasonably balanced the statutory sentencing factors and imposed a substantial downward variance.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that Tennessee building-burglary convictions under subsection (a)(1) remain valid ACCA predicates in the Sixth Circuit. A defendant cannot avoid that result by arguing that the particular burglary involved a comparatively modest structure or less serious conduct.
The opinion also illustrates the difficulty of overturning a below-Guidelines sentence as substantively unreasonable when the sentencing court addresses both aggravating circumstances and the defendant’s mitigating evidence.