## Facts

- Larry Begay, a New Mexico resident with chronic alcohol abuse, had at least twelve DWI convictions; under New Mexico law, a fourth or subsequent DWI is a felony punishable by more than one year.
- After drinking in 2004, Begay threatened his sister with a rifle and pulled the trigger; the rifle did not fire because it was unloaded.
- Police found a .22-caliber rifle in Begay’s room, and federal prosecutors charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).
- Begay pleaded guilty to the firearm offense.
- The presentence report identified at least three prior New Mexico felony DWI convictions, which the government treated as ACCA predicate “violent felonies,” triggering a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence.

## Issues

1. Whether New Mexico felony DWI qualifies as a “violent felony” under the Armed Career Criminal Act’s residual clause, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii).
2. Whether the residual clause covers any offense posing a serious potential risk of physical injury, or only offenses similar in kind and degree of risk to burglary, arson, extortion, or crimes involving explosives.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed in relevant part, holding (6–3) that New Mexico felony DWI is not a “violent felony” under ACCA’s residual clause.
- The Court applied a categorical approach, evaluating the statutory elements of felony DWI rather than the defendant’s conduct in the particular incident.
- The Court concluded that the residual clause reaches only offenses roughly similar, in kind and in degree of risk, to the offenses specifically listed in § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii).
- Although intoxicated driving may present a serious risk of physical injury, felony DWI does not typically involve the purposeful, violent, and aggressive conduct associated with the enumerated offenses.
- Begay therefore was not subject to ACCA’s 15-year mandatory minimum based on his felony DWI convictions.

## Legal Principles

- ACCA’s residual clause is interpreted in light of the enumerated offenses that precede it; coverage is limited to crimes similar in kind and degree of risk to burglary, arson, extortion, and crimes involving explosives.
- Under the categorical approach, courts determine whether an offense qualifies as an ACCA “violent felony” by examining the generic offense defined by statute, not the facts of a particular defendant’s conduct.
- A serious potential risk of physical injury, standing alone, does not suffice under § 924(e)(2)(B)(ii); the offense must also resemble the enumerated offenses in the nature of the conduct typically involved.
- Felony DWI, which can be committed without purposeful or deliberate violent or aggressive conduct, falls outside the residual clause.

## Conclusion

The Court held that felony DWI does not count as an ACCA “violent felony” because the residual clause covers only crimes comparable in kind and risk to the enumerated offenses, and intoxicated driving typically lacks the purposeful, violent, and aggressive conduct those examples reflect.


Begay v. United States, 553 U.S. 137 (2008)