United States v. Donald Gordon, Jr.

United States Court of Appeals
For the Eighth Circuit
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No. 16-4441
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United States of America
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee
v.
Donald E. Gordon, Jr.
lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant
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Appeal from United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Missouri - Cape Girardeau
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Submitted: December 11, 2017
Filed: December 27, 2017
[Unpublished]
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Before SMITH, Chief Judge, ARNOLD and KELLY, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
Donald Gordon, Jr., pleaded guilty to being a felon possessing a firearm and
to possessing a stolen firearm. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), (j). Gordon had twice been
convicted in Missouri state court of "recklessly caus[ing] serious physical injury to
another person." See Mo. Rev. Stat. § 565.060.1(3) (now codified at Mo. Rev. Stat.
§ 565.052.1(3)). When calculating Gordon's base offense level under the Sentencing
Guidelines, the district court determined that Gordon's prior convictions were crimes
of violence. See USSG § 2K2.1(a)(2). Gordon appeals, maintaining that his prior
convictions were not in fact crimes of violence, and so the district court set his base
offense level, and his Guidelines range, too high. While Gordon's appeal was
pending, a panel of our court held that convictions under the statute that Gordon
violated were not crimes of violence. See United States v. Fields, 863 F.3d 1012,
1015 (8th Cir. 2017). Because we are bound by the prior panel's decision, see United
States v. Eason, 829 F.3d 633, 641 (8th Cir. 2016), we vacate Gordon's sentence and
remand to the district court for resentencing.
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