Summary
U.S. Supreme Court case on the "three strikes" provision of the Armed Career Criminal Act. That provision requires a 15-year minimum sentence for a violation by a felon who has three prior convictions for violent felonies. Charles Borden was found to be illegally in possession of a gun under circumstances indicating he was involved in drug dealing. He had three prior convictions for aggravated assault. Borden claims that a prior conviction does not count as "violent" if the statute defining the crime permits a conviction on a showing that it was committed recklessly rather than intentionally, regardless of how clearly the actual crime was intentional. The Model Penal Code provides that a defendant can be convicted of most violent offenses upon a showing that the crime was purposeful, knowing, or reckless, and the bulk of states have followed this pattern. Acceptance of Borden's argument would prevent application of the "three strikes" provision to a great many crimes that are clearly violent. CJLF entered the case to argue that recklessness is a well-established mental state for violent crimes, and statutes following the standard definition come within the intent of this law. The Supreme Court was divided and unable to agree on a single rationale. However, the result of the case is that prior offenses that can be committed with a reckless mental state will not be counted for the ACCA.
