Mario Delaine fired shots from a Chattanooga motel room in November 2022, hitting the window and door while police arrived to investigate reports of gunfire. Officers recovered a pistol and shell casings after Delaine exited the room with a woman who consented to the search. Delaine pleaded guilty to felon-in-possession charges under a plea deal that preserved his right to appeal the enhanced sentencing determination.
Circuit Judge Murphy, writing for a three-judge panel, rejected Delaine's argument that state court interpretations after his convictions should be ignored when determining whether prior offenses qualify as violent felonies. 'Even if we must ignore changes in judicial interpretation that postdate a defendant's prior conviction, the Florida Supreme Court did not change Florida law in Somers,' Murphy wrote, noting that Florida appellate courts consistently required intent for assault convictions before Delaine's 2012 aggravated assault conviction. The court also found that Florida's felony battery statute required 'great bodily harm' in every case, distinguishing it from common-law battery.
The district court had sentenced Delaine to 188 months imprisonment after finding his Florida aggravated assault and felony battery convictions from 2009 and 2012, plus his Ohio domestic violence conviction from 2019, qualified as violent felonies under the Armed Career Criminal Act's elements clause. The government had agreed to a maximum 200-month sentence while preserving the enhancement issue for appeal.
The decision resolves a circuit split over whether courts should consider state law interpretations that clarify offense elements after a defendant's conviction, with the Sixth Circuit joining the Eleventh Circuit in allowing reliance on later clarifying decisions. The ruling affects defendants with multiple prior convictions who face enhanced federal sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act, which imposes a mandatory minimum 15-year sentence for qualifying repeat offenders.