United States v. Kenneth L. Harris, 704 F. App'x 919

Kenneth Harris was convicted by a jury of three Hobbs Act robberies (18 U.S.C. § 1951), three § 924(c)(1)(A) counts for using/carrying a firearm during those robberies, and one § 922(g)/ACCA firearms-possession count.
District court sentenced Harris to concurrent terms on the Hobbs Act counts and ACCA possession count, plus consecutive § 924(c) mandatory minimums, for a total of 872 months.
On appeal Harris challenged: (1) whether the Hobbs Act robberies qualify as "crimes of violence" under § 924(c)(3)(A), and (2) whether his 1991 Florida robbery-with-a-firearm convictions qualify as ACCA predicate violent felonies.
The Eleventh Circuit applied binding prior-panel precedent resolving both issues against Harris.
The court affirmed Harris’s convictions and sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Hobbs Act robberies are "crimes of violence" for § 924(c)	Hobbs Act robberies do not qualify as crimes of violence for § 924(c)	Hobbs Act robberies involve actual/threatened force and thus meet § 924(c)(3)(A)	Rejected Harris’s argument; Hobbs Act robberies qualify under the force clause
Whether 1991 Florida armed robbery convictions qualify as ACCA predicates	Florida robberies should not count as ACCA violent felonies	Florida robbery statute contains force element and thus qualifies under ACCA elements clause	Rejected Harris’s argument; prior Florida convictions qualify as ACCA predicates

Smith v. GTE Corp., 236 F.3d 1292 (11th Cir. 2001) (establishes the prior-panel-precedent rule binding later panels)
In re Fleur, 824 F.3d 1337 (11th Cir. 2016) (held Hobbs Act robbery qualifies as a crime of violence under § 924(c)(3)(A))
In re Lambrix, 776 F.3d 789 (11th Cir. 2015) (applies prior-panel-precedent rule to decisions in the second-or-successive § 2255 context)
United States v. Fritts, 841 F.3d 937 (11th Cir. 2016) (held Florida armed robbery under Fla. Stat. § 812.13 qualifies as an ACCA violent felony)

AFFIRMED.