Legal Question in Criminal Law in New Mexico

this question concerns the federal ACCA. the federal government recently charged my son and applied the ACCA. when the government did the pre-sentence report for the court they stated cases in which they felt applied to and used for the ACCA enhancement..i noticed that in one particular case or previous charge which they counted in applying this act..there were no case facts at all pertaining to the particular charge..doesn't the government have to provide a description of the act as to what happened to consider it a violent crime? or @ least show some kind of proof or verification of an act of violence..especially when the life of a young man hangs in the balance. how can they just give a date, a court-date and say it was a violent offense w/o any kind of description or documentation as to what happened and count it in applying the ACCA. thank you


Asked on 12/09/11, 10:57 am

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

In the federal system violent crimes are defined ahead of time, and are not fact-dependent for the most part. Robbery, burglary, arson, etc., are crimes of violence under the Sentencing Guidelines whether or not there was actual violence involved. The ACCA applies when a defendant has one of the delineated violent crimes in his criminal history.

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Answered on 12/18/11, 12:45 pm


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