U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall, appointed in 2015, with a distinguished legal career in commercial litigation and public service. An alumnus of Antioch College and Howard University School of Law, she proudly served in the U.S. Air Force. Brooklyn Eagle photo by Robert Abruzzese.
U.S. District Judge Lashann DeArcy Hall last month vacated the sentence of Patrick Spencer, a man previously convicted on multiple counts related to drugs and firearms.
The crux of the issue revolves around the application of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), a law that enhances sentences for certain types of offenses.
Spencer, who was convicted in 2011 on charges including possession with intent to distribute substances containing cocaine base and heroin, using and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of a firearm, sought to overturn his conviction and sentence of 300 months. The sentence was so lengthy largely due to four prior convictions deemed as violent felonies.
The recent ruling hinged on two main arguments presented by Spencer.
The first pertains to his previous convictions of attempted armed robbery, which he argued should not be classified as “violent felonies” under ACCA in light of a Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Taylor. That case established that the attempted Hobbs Act robbery did not qualify as a “crime of violence” because it didn’t require proof that the defendant used, threatened to use, or attempted to use force.
Judge Hall ruled that while Spencer’s second-degree attempted armed robbery conviction did not meet the definition of a violent felony, his conviction for first-degree attempted robbery does fall under ACCA’s violent felony category.
The second argument, which proved decisive, was related to Spencer’s conviction for the attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. The defendant argued, and the court agreed, that this conviction was not a…
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