Legal Question in Criminal Law in New Mexico

If a person was arrested for a violent crime, and as part of a plea agreement, the prosecution allowed the crime to be considered as a non-violent offense. After the defendant plead no contest he was found guilty of a non-violent crime. The sentence was allowed to run concurrent with a previous sentence he was serving. So my question is this, if the defendant gets re-arrested on the federal level, can they use this conviction which was considered a non-violent conviction by the state court, can it be used or counted in determining the defendant for the armed career criminal category?


Asked on 8/18/11, 11:39 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Aspinwall Charles S. Aspinwall, J.D., LLC

If the factual basis of the crime to which a guilty plea was entered involved violence, then the feds will count it no matter what it is called in the plea agreement. A no contest plea is a guilty plea. If the crime is less than 10 years old, or involved a firearm or domestic violence, it will be counted in the Guidelines computations under the ACCA.

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Answered on 8/18/11, 12:19 pm


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