United States v. Sosebee, 59 F.4th 151

Jackie Sosebee had prior Texas convictions: robbery (1985) and two burglaries (1985, 2002).
In 2007 he pled guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition; district court applied the ACCA and sentenced him to 180 months (mandatory minimum) plus 3 years supervised release.
Released to supervised release in July 2019; in January 2021 he was convicted again of felon in possession of ammunition and sentenced to 188 months, again enhanced under the ACCA; the supervised-release revocation produced a 24-month revocation term to run concurrently.
Sosebee filed a §2255 motion attacking his 2007 sentence that was denied; he appealed that denial and separately appealed his 2021 conviction; the appeals were consolidated.
The court dismissed the §2255 appeal as moot because Sosebee had completed the revocation term and a favorable ruling could not provide any effectual relief.
On the ACCA predicate issue, the court applied Fifth Circuit precedent (United States v. Garrett) holding Texas robbery divisible into robbery-by-threat (qualifies under the ACCA elements clause) and robbery-by-injury (may not), and found Sosebee’s charging documents showed robbery-by-threat; thus the ACCA enhancement was affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Mootness of §2255 appeal	United States: appeal is moot because Sosebee completed his revocation term so no relief is possible	Sosebee: sought relief from §2255 denial (argued merits)	Dismissed as moot — no live case-or-controversy because revocation term completed
Whether Texas robbery qualifies as an ACCA "violent felony" under the elements clause	United States: Sosebee’s robbery conviction reflects robbery-by-threat, which necessarily involves threatened use of physical force and qualifies	Sosebee: challenged ACCA enhancement and urged reconsideration of Garrett post-Borden	Affirmed — under binding Garrett precedent the record shows robbery-by-threat, so it is a valid ACCA predicate
Whether Garrett remains binding	United States: Garrett is controlling Fifth Circuit precedent and must be followed	Sosebee: urged overturning Garrett (and raised Borden implications)	Court declined to overturn; bound by Garrett absent en banc or Supreme Court reversal
Consideration of Wooden-based argument raised after briefing	United States: opposed late-filed supplemental argument	Sosebee: moved to supplement citing Wooden v. United States	Denied — court refused to consider new argument raised months after briefing and oral argument

Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133 (struck down ACCA residual clause)
Borden v. United States, 141 S. Ct. 1817 (offenses with mens rea of recklessness cannot qualify as violent felonies)
United States v. Garrett, 24 F.4th 485 (5th Cir. 2022) (Texas robbery is divisible; robbery-by-threat qualifies under ACCA elements clause)
Mathis v. United States, 579 U.S. 500 (categorical and modified-categorical approach to determining predicate offenses)
Begay v. United States, 553 U.S. 137 (ACCA addresses special danger posed by armed career criminals)
Welch v. United States, 578 U.S. 120 (definitions and clauses of "violent felony" context)