Updates in Supreme Court decision in United States v. Taylor No. 20–1459, decided June 21, 2022.
According to a criminal defense lawyer who residents trust from our friends, the Supreme Court of the United States decided in Taylor that attempted Hobbs Act robbery is not a federal crime of violence for purposes 18 USC § 924 (c) (carrying a firearm in connection with certain other federal felonies), which can attach a 5-, 7-, or 10-year consecutive sentence to the underlying robbery, on onslaught of motions have been mane for already sentenced defendants, as well as requests made by defendants about to be sentenced. And the petitions are not just by those whose underlying convictions include attempted Hobbs Act robbery, but also by those convicted of many other attempt crimes such as attempted kidnapping, attempted carjacking, attempted bank robbery and even attempted murder (in certain RICO cases). The determination really turns on whether the Federal Appellate Courts will extend the holding of Taylor to these other “attempt” crimes. Taylor pivoted on the fact that § 924(c) can only attach to crimes that are committed by the use, attempted use of threatened use of physical force. Since attempted Hobbs Act robbery could be committed with an “attempted threat,” the Supreme Court in Taylor Court found that it was not a crime of violence. A broad reading of Taylor would mean that mostly any attempted crime would no longer be considered a crime of violence. The effect of that would be to prevent the government from charging this additional 5 – 10-year enhancement in a myriad of cases.
As the Federal Appellate and District Courts deal with the impact of Taylor in sentencing newly convicted defendants and dealing with those seeking resentencing, these lower courts are coming up with different decisions on what other attempted crimes are no longer crimes of violence for purposes of § 924(c)’s enhancement. What that means is that the Supreme Court may again be revisiting this to settle the question of what other attempted crimes fall under the umbrella of Taylor’s holding.
If you are in need of a criminal defense lawyer due to a potential case with attempted crimes as outlined in the Taylor case, contact an experienced attorney today!