The Fifth Circuit has determined that Arizona Revised Statute Section 13-3405(A)(4), which criminalizes sale, transportation, importation, transfer and offers to transport for sale, import, sell, or transfer of marijuana, is divisible.  The court noted that Arizona state courts are divided on whether the "offer to" offenses - known as solicitation offenses - were distinct from the other offenses, or were merely alternative means committing these offenses.  The court took a "peak" at the petitioner's record of conviction, and noted that the indictment charged all of these provisions, but his plea document and judgment listed only “attempted transportation of marijuana for sale.”  This, the court concluded, indicated a divisible statute.  "When the relevant documents use one alternative term to the exclusion of all others, that indicates that the terms within the statute are individual elements."  The court also note that there are separate pattern instructions for transport for sale and offer to transport for sale, reinforcing that these are distinct offenses.

The full text of Ibanez-Beltran v. Lynch can be found here:
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/15/15-60183-CV0.pdf

Comment