Sentencing Guidelines

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Giavonni Cunningham

Case No.: 20-3203

Officials: EASTERBROOK, KANNE, and ST. EVE, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines

Giavonni Cunningham appeals his sentence for unlawful possession of ammunition, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), on the ground that the district court miscalculated his range under the Sentencing Guidelines. He contends that the court erred in determining that one of his two convictions for aggravated battery under Illinois law, 720 ILCS 5/12-4 (2010), was a “crime of violence.” In Cunningham’s view, the court should have relied on unspecified information from the Illinois Department of Corrections to find that he was convicted under a subsection of the statute that does not categorically define a crime of violence. But the court-certified record of conviction—which was consistent with criminal records from two separate police departments—shows that Cunningham was convicted under 720 ILCS 5/12-4(a), which, he concedes, is a crime of violence. Because the district court appropriately relied on the certified record, we affirm.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is Corporate Counsel, at Salesforce.