United States v. Ladarius Melton

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION File Name: 12a0712n.06 FILED No. 10-5382 Jul 03, 2012 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS LEONARD GREEN, Clerk FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED ) STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR v. ) THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF ) TENNESSEE LADARIUS MELTON, ) ) Defendant-Appellant. ) Before: MARTIN, SUHRHEINRICH, and COLE, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM. Ladarius Melton appeals a district court judgment sentencing him to 160 months of imprisonment for one count of bank robbery. Melton pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a). The district court determined that Melton was a career offender under USSG § 4B1.1(a) based in part on his prior conviction under Tennessee law for evading arrest. Melton’s evading arrest conviction was charged as a Class E felony. The district court sentenced Melton as a career offender to 160 months in prison. On appeal, Melton argues that the district court erred by concluding that his prior conviction for evading arrest constituted a “crime of violence” under the United States Sentencing Guidelines. A district court’s determination that a prior conviction is a crime of violence under the Guidelines is reviewed de novo. United States v. Ruvalcaba, 627 F.3d 218, 221 (6th Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct. 2133 (2011). In determining whether a conviction is a crime of violence under the Guidelines, we analyze the conviction in the same way we analyze whether a conviction is a No. 10-5382 -2- “violent felony” under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). United States v. Meeks, 664 F.3d 1067, 1070 n.1 (6th Cir. 2012). Melton’s argument that his prior conviction for evading arrest is not a crime of violence under the Guidelines is foreclosed by our decision in United States v. Doyle, No. 10-5075, 2012 WL 1560394 (6th Cir. May 4, 2012), which held that a conviction under Tennessee law for Class E felony evading arrest is a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act. The district court’s judgment is affirmed.