[2] The Armed Career Criminal Act, enacted in 1984 and since amended, provides for enhanced sentences for felons who commit crimes with firearms.

A felon convicted of a "violent felony" or a "serious drug offense" at least three times faces a minimum sentence of fifteen years in prison.

The petitioner, Deondery Chambers, pleaded guilty in District Court to the charge of being a felon in unlawful possession of a firearm.

The District Court disagreed, treating the failure to report as similar to an escape and therefore a violent felony under the ACCA.

[7] The Supreme Court held unanimously that a failure to report did not qualify as a violent felony for the purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act.