Begay v. United States Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Begay v. United States - Case Study Example The main question in the case was to establish what kind of crimes fall under the category of violent crimes enumerated under the ACCA (1984). In this determination, the court had to establish whether reckless driving or driving while intoxicated as proscribed by the New Mexico’s DUI law could constitute a violent felony in the auspices of the ACCA (1984). In overall, the court had to establish the extent to which a commission of an act threatening the consequence of injury to another person can be treated as a violent crime under ACCA (1984). The Supreme Court under the guidance of Justices Roberts C.J., Stevens Kennedy, Ginsburg J.J. and Scalia J held that driving under the influence of alcohol is not a violent felony as envisioned in The Armed Career Criminal Act (1984). The court further held that the most significant question is not on how the defendant had engaged in previous crimes but on how the statute defines the crime of violent felony. The court was of the opinion that regardless of the risk of injury posed to another person or group of persons, the crime in itself is milder to the example of crimes covered under the ACCA. In arriving at the above decision, the Supreme Court justices considered a strict interpretation of the New Mexico’s Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) offense in relation to the benchmarks provided for under the ACCA. The court was convinced that New Mexico’s DWI is not in the ordinary sense a violent felony when interpreted alongside the ACCA residual clause which only encompasses violent and active property crimes that are characteristic of violent criminals, which become more dangerous when committed with a firearm. Begay succeeded in his argument to convince the court that this definition excluded DWI felony as enumerated under the New Mexico Criminal Statute. The argument by Begay’s defense that a violent felony