8th Circuit vacates felony weapons sentence

By AMY LORENTZEN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DES MOINES — The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday vacated the sentence of a man whose criminal history of drunken driving earned him a more stringent prison term on a weapons crime.

The appeals court threw out the sentence of James Daryl Heikes, who was arrested in Dallas County in central Iowa and pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa to being a drug user in possession of a firearm.

Heikes appealed the enhanced, 15-year prison term that the district court handed down after finding that he had three or more previous convictions for violent felonies. Court records said Heikes had been convicted three times on drunken driving charges.

The offense that Heikes was sentenced for happened on March 13, 2005. He argued that it was during a brief period of about 2 1/2 months where the court did not consider drunken driving a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act guidelines, or a violent crime under the Career Offender guidelines.

Eight days after Heikes’ offense, the government filed a motion to rehear the case that changed the crime’s status. Following that, the 8th Circuit Court again found drunken driving to be a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

However, during Heikes’ appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the 8th Circuit’s interpretation.

Based on that decision, the appeals court found that the district court erred and Heikes should not have been subject to the enhanced penalty.

‘‘This error affected his substantial rights by dramatically increasing his advisory sentencing guidelines range ...’’ the appeals court wrote in its ruling.

The sentence was vacated and the case was sent back to the district court, which was instructed not to use the Armed Career Criminal Act enhancements or the Career offender guidelines in resentencing Heikes.