United States v. Mann

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Clay O’Brien Mann’s neighbors invited about a dozen friends to join them late one summer evening for a bonfire at their undeveloped property on an Indian reservation. When this particular gathering continued into the early morning, Mann, who had been drinking, hurled a lit artillery-shell firework in the direction of the partygoers. The firework exploded, chaos ensued, and his neighbors and their guests ran away screaming. Three of them unwittingly retreated in the direction of Mann. He then fired nine shots with a semiautomatic rifle, killing one person and wounding two others. Mann, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and Indian Tribe, was indicted on eight counts, and a jury convicted as to five of them. The district court vacated one of those convictions and sentenced Mann to just over fourteen years in prison. Mann appealed, and the Tenth Circuit affirmed. In the course of affirming, the Court noted that but for a “careless error” by the government, Mann might well have received an additional twenty-five years on his sentence for a second 18 U.S.C. 924(c) conviction. The error was found in Count 8 of the original indictment which charged Mann with "knowingly discharg[ing] and carry[ing] a firearm... during and relation to a crime of violence." The indictment charged “assault resulting in serious bodily injury” in Count 7, not in Count 6. After realizing the government’s mistake, the district court dismissed Count 8 without prejudice, allowing the government to present a corrected section 924(c)(1)(A)(iii) charge to another grand jury; the government elected to do so. A second grand jury re-indicted Mann on the corrected charge, which went to trial. However, the district court declared a mistrial when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. Before a third trial was set to begin. Mann moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing assault resulting in bodily injury, was not a crime of violence under 924(c)(1)(A). The district court agreed and dismissed the indictment; the government timely appealed. The Tenth Circuit determined Mann conceded that “[t]he least of the acts criminalized by section 18 U.S.C. 113(a)(6) was the reckless causing of serious bodily injury.” The Tenth Circuit accepted his concession and concluded that section 113(a)(6) was categorically a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3)(A). Because the district court ruled otherwise in dismissing the government’s indictment, its judgment was reversed. View "United States v. Mann" on Justia Law