Monday, June 13, 2022

6/13/22: 18 U.S.C. § 844(i) is not a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)

In United States v. Mathews, --- F.4th ---, No. 19-56110 (9th Cir. 2022), the Court reversed the district court’s denial of Richard Mathews’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion and remanded with instructions to vacate his conviction and sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) for use and carrying an explosive device during a crime of violence.

"We agree with the parties that Mathews’s property-damage conviction is not categorically a crime of violence and, therefore, cannot serve as a predicate crime for his firearm conviction. Section 924(c) defines a crime of violence as an offense committed against “the person or property of another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A) (emphasis added). A person can be convicted under Section 844(i) for using an explosive to destroy his or her own property. As such, Section 844(i) criminalizes conduct that falls outside Section 924(c)’s definition of “crime of violence,” and there is not a categorical match between the two statutes."