No. 21-3759 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Devon Allen McConnell

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Eastern ____________

Submitted: October 17, 2022 Filed: April 14, 2023 ____________ Before COLLOTON, KELLY, and KOBES, Circuit Judges. ____________ KELLY, Circuit Judge.

Devon McConnell pleaded guilty to three firearm and controlled-substance offenses. McConnell appeals, arguing that the district court 1 erred in sentencing him as a career offender under United States Sentencing Guidelines § 4B1.1(a) (2021).

1 The Honorable John A. Jarvey, then Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, now retired. I.

McConnell was indicted in July 2020 for possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, see 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(C); possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, see 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i); and possession of a firearm as a felon, see 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He pleaded guilty to all three counts pursuant to a plea agreement.

The presentence investigation report (PSR) recommended that McConnell qualified for a sentencing enhancement as a career offender based on two prior convictions for “crimes of violence”: a 2004 Iowa conviction for conspiracy to commit willful injury causing bodily injury, see Iowa Code §§ 706.1, 706.3(2), 708.4(2), and a 2013 Illinois conviction for robbery, see 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/18- 1(a). See USSG §§ 4B1.1(a), 4B1.2(a). McConnell objected, arguing that neither offense qualified as a crime of violence.

At sentencing, the district court overruled McConnell’s objection, resulting in an advisory Guidelines range of 262 to 327 months of imprisonment. 2 See USSG § 4B1.1(c)(3). The district court sentenced McConnell to 140 months for his controlled-substance conviction and 120 months for his felon-in-possession conviction, to be served concurrently. And it imposed a mandatory consecutive sentence of 60 months for McConnell’s § 924(c) conviction, see 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i), (c)(1)(D)(ii), for a total of 200 months of imprisonment. McConnell appeals.

2 Because McConnell (1) was designated a career offender and (2) was convicted of a § 924(c) offense and at least one other offense, his Guidelines range was “determined using the table in” USSG § 4B1.1(c)(3). See USSG § 4B1.1(c)(2)(B).

-2- II.

A defendant qualifies for a sentencing enhancement as a career offender under the Guidelines if, among other things, he “has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.” USSG § 4B1.1(a). A “crime of violence” is defined in relevant part as any federal or state offense “punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year” that “has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” USSG § 4B1.2(a)(1). McConnell contends that his prior Iowa conspiracy conviction does not qualify as a crime of violence under this force clause,3 which is a question we review de novo. See United States v. Hamilton, 46 F.4th 864, 867 (8th Cir. 2022) (“We review de novo whether a predicate offense qualifies as a crime of violence as defined in § 4B1.2.”).

To dete