Supreme Court to decide whether breaking into mobile home is a ‘burglary’ News
Supreme Court to decide whether breaking into mobile home is a ‘burglary’

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari [order list, PDF] Monday in two cases dealing with the question of whether breaking into a mobile home or other “nonpermanent or mobile structure” constitutes a burglary under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) [text], consolidating them for oral argument.

The ACCA provides that people who have been convicted of “violent felonies” (including burglary) or serious drug offenses at least three times will be sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 15 years if they are found possessing or transporting a firearm.

Burglary has been defined [SCOTUSblog report] by the Supreme Court as “crimes involving illegal or unauthorized entry into a ‘building or structure’ with the intent to commit a crime.”

The cases are United States v. Stitt and United States v. Sims [docket].

THIS DAY @ LAW

US Supreme Court ruled Indians not US citizens

On November 3, 1884, the US Supreme Court ruled in Elk v. Wilkins that John Elk, an American Indian who had tried to vote in a federal election in Omaha, Nebraska, was not a US citizen entitled to the protection of the 14th and 15th Amendments of the US Constitution. Native Americans became eligible for citizenship in 1887 under the Dawes Act, but only in 1924, under the Indian Citizenship Act, were all Native Americans born in the US made citizens.

Last public execution at Tyburn Gallows in London

On November 3, 1783, the last public execution took place at Tyburn Gallows in London, when John Austin was hanged for highway robbery. From the hanging of William Fitz Osburn in 1196 until Austin's execution, Tyburn served as London's primary location for public executions.

Learn more about the trial of John Austin.