United States v. Darrick Lynn Ferguson

Summary

The Eighth Circuit held that Ferguson’s prior Arkansas conviction for delivery of cocaine criminalized a broader range of cocaine isomers than the federal Controlled Substances Act. Because the state offense therefore did not qualify as a serious drug offense under the Armed Career Criminal Act, the court vacated Ferguson’s sentence and remanded for resentencing.

Holdings

1. The Arkansas conviction does not qualify as an ACCA predicate because the statute criminalizes a wider range of cocaine isomers than the substances listed in § 102 of the Controlled Substances Act.
2. The Arkansas statute is not divisible by cocaine isomer, so the modified categorical approach cannot be used to examine the particular form of cocaine involved in Ferguson's conviction.
3. United States v. Meux does not require treating Ferguson's conviction as an ACCA predicate because Meux did not address the scope of the Arkansas statute's definition of cocaine.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Ferguson's Arkansas conviction under Ark. Code Ann. § 5-64-401(a)(1)(A)(i) qualifies as a serious drug offense and predicate conviction under the ACCA.
2. Whether the Arkansas statute criminalizes a broader range of cocaine isomers than the Controlled Substances Act.
3. Whether the Arkansas statute is divisible with respect to cocaine and its isomers such that the modified categorical approach could be applied.
4. Whether United States v. Meux required the court to treat the Arkansas conviction as an ACCA predicate.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded