Friday, March 02, 2018

U.S. v. Studhorse (9th Cir. - March 2, 2018)

First of all, "Kenneth Studhorse" sounds like the made-up name of a porn star, not the actual name of a defendant.

But, apparently, it's not made up at all.  It's instead the actual name of someone convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm and a violent felon in possession of body armor.

Second of all, it's symptomatic of contemporary legal analysis that it takes the Ninth Circuit sixteen single-spaced pages to say why attempted first degree murder is a "crime of violence" under federal law.

Of course it's a crime of violence.  It's attempted murder!

Judge Smith's opinion offers a bit more detail, but comes out the same way.