Opinion
21-5416
07-12-2022
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. RICKY LEE RIDDLE, Defendant-Appellant.
NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
Before: KETHLEDGE, STRANCH, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges.
KETHLEDGE, CIRCUIT JUDGE
Ricky Lee Riddle was sentenced as a career offender based in part on a Tennessee robbery conviction. He now challenges that designation. We affirm.
In 2020, Riddle pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The probation office recommended that Riddle be designated a career offender under the Guidelines because he had two prior convictions for a felony "crime of violence." One of those convictions was for robbery in Tennessee, in violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-13-401. See U.S.S.G. §§ 2K2.1, 4B1.1. That designation would increase Riddle's base offense level from 14 to 24. Riddle objected to the report, arguing that Tennessee robbery does not qualify as a crime of violence under the Guidelines. The district court overruled Riddle's objection, designated him as a career offender, and sentenced him to 100 months' imprisonment.
We review the district court's designation of Riddle as a career offender de novo. See United States v. Hill, 982 F.3d 441, 443 (6th Cir. 2020). Riddle's argument here is that his Tennessee offense was not a crime of violence as defined by U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a). That definition is identical to the definition of a "violent felony" under the Armed Career Criminal Act. We therefore construe the two definitions the same way. United States v. Harris, 853 F.3d 318, 320 (6th Cir. 2017). And we have held that Tennessee robbery is a violent felony under the elements clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act. See United States v. Mitchell, 743 F.3d 1054, 1059 (6th Cir. 2014); United States v. Randy Belcher, No. 21-5414, slip op. at 3 (6th Cir. July 12, 2022). We therefore apply that same holding here. The district court was therefore correct to designate Riddle a career offender.
The district court's judgment is affirmed.