United States v. Ridens

Defendant-appellant Ryan Ridens received a fifteen-year mandatory-minimum sentence enhancement established by the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) for certain felons with three or more prior convictions for “violent felon[ies]” or “serious drug offense[s].” He claimed the district court erred in imposing the enhancement because: (1) a burglary conviction used to trigger the sentence should not have counted as a “violent felony” because there was insufficient proof that it was a qualifying burglary within the meaning of the ACCA; and (2) triggering the mandatory minimum with the judicially found fact of his three prior qualifying convictions violated the Sixth Amendment. Finding no reversible error in the district court's decision, the Tenth Circuit affirmed his sentence. View "United States v. Ridens" on Justia Law