Case Explained: United States of America v. Stephon Verges

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Filed: 2026-08-11 The eighth-circuit affirmed the defendant’s sentence, holding that the district court did not clearly err in determining his prior Missouri conviction was for “Unlawful Use of a Weapon – Exhibiting” under § 571.030.1(4) and that this offense qualifies as a “crime of violence” under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines § 4B1.2(a). The court applied the modified categorical approach to identify the specific offense of conviction from a divisible statute, finding the district court’s determination plausible based on the amended information and guilty plea which closely tracked subdivision (4). Regarding the crime of violence classification, the court reviewed de novo but was bound by its prior panel decision in *United States v. Pulliam*, which held that exhibiting a weapon in an angry or threatening manner constitutes threatened use of physical force against another person. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the Supreme Court’s intervening decision in *Delligatti v. United States* rendered *Pulliam* inconsistent, noting that *Pulliam* already required the object of the force to be a person and that Missouri case law equates flourishing a weapon in the presence of others with an assault on those present. As a result, the defendant’s prior conviction was properly counted as a crime of violence, increasing his applicable Guidelines sentencing range, and the judgment of the district court stands. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.