United States of America v. Damon Chappelle, a/k/a D

New York, New York criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with a Hobbs Act robbery.



Chappelle was convicted of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act

robbery. Application Note 1 to § 4B1.2 provides that, among other

things, a conspiracy to commit a crime of violence is itself a crime of

violence. The United States District Court for the Southern District of

New York (Laura Taylor Swain, Judge) held that it was not obligated

to defer to Application Note 1 because it was inconsistent with

§ 4B1.2(a).3 It therefore held that Chappelle's conspiracy conviction

was not a "crime of violence,” calculated Chappelle's advisory

Sentencing Guidelines without reference to the career offender

provisions, and sentenced him to time served followed by supervised

release. The Government appealed.

Affirmed