No. 21-482

Hassan Sharif Ali, aka Big Hassan v. United States

Lower Court: Fourth Circuit
Docketed: 2021-09-30
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Response Waived Experienced Counsel
Tags: categorical-approach crime-of-violence criminal-procedure due-process jury-verdict modified-categorical-approach predicate-offense statutory-interpretation united-states-code united-states-v-davis
Key Terms:
Environmental SocialSecurity Securities Immigration
Latest Conference: 2021-11-12
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether a court must apply the modified categorical approach to determine whether a verdict of conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) necessarily rests on a valid predicate offense

Question Presented (from Petition)

QUESTION PRESENTED The jury in this case was instructed that it could convict Petitioner under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) based on one of several accused crimes. The court of appeals held, however, that at least one of the crimes the jury was allowed to consider was not, in fact, a valid predicate “crime of violence” under § 924(c). The jury verdict and the record do not reveal whether the jury relied on the erroneous predicate offense in convicting Petitioner under § 924(c). Notwithstanding that ambiguity, however, the court of appeals affirmed Petitioner’s § 924(c) conviction because the jury merely could have relied on a valid crime of violence, and refused to apply the modified categorical approach to determine whether the verdict necessarily relied on a crime of violence. The question presented is: Whether a court must apply the modified categorical approach to determine whether a verdict of conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) necessarily rests on a valid predicate offense, as this Court directed in United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019), Mathis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2243 (2016), and Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13 (2005), or whether it may affirm such a § 924(c) conviction if it is merely possible that the jury relied on a valid predicate offense. @

Docket Entries

2021-11-15
Petition DENIED.
2021-10-27
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/12/2021.
2021-10-20
Waiver of right of respondent United States to respond filed.
2021-09-27
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 1, 2021)

Attorneys

Hassan Sharif Ali
Mark Christopher FlemingWilmerHale, Petitioner
Mark Christopher FlemingWilmerHale, Petitioner
United States
Elizabeth B. PrelogarSolicitor General, Respondent
Elizabeth B. PrelogarSolicitor General, Respondent