LEXINGTON, KY – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has vacated the prison sentence of Davon S. Tooley after ruling that his prior Kentucky conviction for second-degree manslaughter does not qualify as a “crime of violence” under federal sentencing guidelines.
Tooley was serving a 145-month sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). His sentence was enhanced based on a prior Kentucky conviction for second-degree manslaughter, which the district court had classified as a violent crime. On appeal, Tooley challenged that classification.
In an opinion issued October 23, 2025, Circuit Judge Helene N. White, writing for the panel, found that Kentucky’s second-degree manslaughter statute requires only a “wanton” mental state—legally equivalent to “recklessness.” The court held that, under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in Borden v. United States, reckless conduct does not qualify as a “crime of violence” because it lacks the required intent to use force against another person.
Tooley’s manslaughter conviction stemmed from an incident in which he wantonly caused the death of another person, a mental state that Kentucky defines as awareness and conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk. The Sixth Circuit found this definition to be “functionally identical” to the recklessness standard described in Borden, making it ineligible as a predicate offense for a sentencing enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guideline § 2K2.1(a)(3).
Although Tooley did not object to the enhancement at sentencing, the appellate court found the error to be “plain” and said it had a significant impact on his sentence and the fairness of the judicial proceedings.
The court’s decision sends the case back to the Eastern District of Kentucky for resentencing without the enhancement.
This ruling clarifies that Kentucky’s second-degree manslaughter offense cannot be used to elevate federal sentencing under the current guidelines, potentially affecting similar cases across the circuit.
