U.S. v. Moore

• Decision Date: 23 March 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-8078.,04-8078.
• Citation: 401 F.3d 1220
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gary Dean MOORE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

401 F.3d 1220

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gary Dean MOORE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04-8078.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

March 23, 2005.

Submitted on the briefs:^* Thomas A. Fleener, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Cheyenne, WY, for Defendant-Appellant.

Matthew H. Mead, United States Attorney, District of Wyoming and David A. Kubichek, Assistant United States Attorney, Casper, WY, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before BRISCOE, LUCERO, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

Gary Moore appeals his sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). He urges us to conclude that the existence of prior convictions, and their classification as "violent felonies," as required by the Act constitute "facts" that must be charged in an indictment and proven to a jury. We conclude that Supreme Court precedent, including its recent holdings in United States v. Booker, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005) and Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 1254, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2005), do not require the government to charge in an indictment or prove to a jury either the existence of prior convictions or their classification as "violent felonies," and therefore AFFIRM Moore's sentence.

I

While investigating a domestic violence complaint at the home shared by Gary Moore and his wife, officers discovered six firearms in Moore's bedroom. During a subsequent interview, Moore's wife informed a sheriff's deputy that Moore had recently possessed an AK-47 assault rifle. Through follow-up interviews with Moore's associates, the deputy confirmed that Moore had possessed and sold the assault rifle. The investigation also revealed that Moore had previously been convicted of several felonies, including rape, "injury by conduct regardless of life," and escape.

After pleading guilty to one count of being a previously convicted felon in possession of firearms, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), Moore received the pre-sentence report ("PSR") that recommended sentencing him as an armed career criminal pursuant to § 924(e). Under § 924(e), any "person who violates section 922(g) ... and has three previous convictions... for a violent felony ... shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than fifteen years." The maximum term of imprisonment under § 922(g), without application of § 924(e), is ten years. 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(2) ("Whoever knowingly violates subsection ... (g) ... of section 922 shall be fined as provided in this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.").

Moore objected to the PSR, arguing that the determination of whether he had previously committed three violent felonies was a factual issue that, pursuant to Blakely v. Washington, ___ U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), had to be charged in the indictment and found by a jury under a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. He further asserted that whether his previous felonies constituted "violent felonies" within the meaning of § 924(e) was a fact question that a jury had to decide. The district court rejected Moore's Blakely arguments and overruled his objection to the PSR. Finding that Moore had been convicted of at least three prior violent felonies, the court sentenced him as an armed career criminal to fifteen years imprisonment, the minimum sentence mandated by § 924(e).

II

On appeal, Moore repeats his argument that the three previous felony convictions required under § 924(e), and whether the felonies were "violent" within the meaning of the statute, are facts that must be charged in the indictment and either admitted to by the defendant or proven to a jury under a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. He argues that his sentence should be vacated and remanded for re-sentencing on the § 922(g) conviction without application of § 924(e)'s mandatory minimum sentence.¹

A

In Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), the Supreme Court considered whether 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2), which increased the maximum penalty for unlawful reentry upon a finding that the alien had previously been convicted of an aggravated felony, constituted a separate crime that had to be charged in the indictment. Because recidivism "is a traditional, if not the most traditional, basis for a sentencing court's increasing an offender's sentence," id. at 243, 118 S.Ct. 1219, and "as typical a sentencing factor as one might imagine," id. at 230, 118 S.Ct. 1219 the Court held that "neither the statute nor the Constitution require the Government to charge ... an earlier conviction in the indictment." Id. at 226-27, 118 S.Ct. 1219. The Court also expressed the importance of shielding a jury from prior-crimes evidence, because "the introduction of evidence of a defendant's prior crimes risks significant prejudice." Id. at 235, 118 S.Ct. 1219.

The following year, in Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227, 119 S.Ct. 1215, 143 L.Ed.2d 311 (1999), the Court reaffirmed its holding in Almendarez-Torres, stating that it "stands for the proposition that not every fact expanding a penalty range must be stated in a felony indictment, the precise holding being that recidivism increasing the maximum penalty need not be so charged." Id. at 248, 118 S.Ct. 1219. The Court again confronted a challenge to sentence enhancements one year later in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). Although the Court held generally that any fact increasing a sentence beyond the statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, it affirmed the continued validity of Almendarez-Torres as an exception to the rule it announced. Central to the Court's decision to carve out recidivism as an exception to its holding in Apprendi was its conclusion that prior convictions are "entered pursuant to proceedings with substantial procedural safeguards of their own." Id. at 488, 120 S.Ct. 2348. Accordingly, the Court stated its holding as: "Other than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt." Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. 2348 (emphasis added).

We have previously reviewed § 924(e) in light of Apprendi. In United States v. Dorris, 236 F.3d 582 (10th Cir.2000), a criminal defendant appealed his sentence under § 924(e) arguing that, under Apprendi, his prior convictions must be charged in an indictment and proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Dorris argued that the rule announced in Apprendi effectively overruled Almendarez-Torres. We noted that Apprendi carved out an exception for prior convictions and that "use of a prior conviction to increase a defendant's sentence does not implicate the same concerns as other sentencing enhancements because the defendant's previous conviction was accompanied by all the procedural safeguards required in a criminal prosecution." Id. at 587-88. Accordingly, we rejected Dorris's argument and held that the "fact" of prior convictions under § 924(e) need not be charged in an indictment and proven to a jury.

Consequently, the question before us now is whether our holding in Dorris remains good law after the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Booker, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005). We conclude that it does.

The majority opinion in Booker does not mention Almendarez-Torres, much less overrule it. Indeed, the Court explicitly confirmed the prior conviction exception, stating:

"we reaffirm our holding in Apprendi: Any fact (other than a prior conviction) which is necessary to support a sentence exceeding the maximum authorized by the facts established by a plea of guilty or a jury verdict must be admitted by the defendant or proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt."

Id. at 756. Furthermore, Apprendi's reason for excepting prior convictions remains as valid after Booker as it was before. In previous criminal proceedings, a defendant received sufficient procedural protections to alleviate any Sixth Amendment concerns about using convictions stemming from those proceedings for sentencing.

Moore argues that recent Supreme Court decisions portend the demise of Almendarez-Torres. Indeed, in a recent concurring opinion, Justice Thomas stated that Almendarez-Torres "has been eroded by this Court's subsequent Sixth Amendment jurisprudence, and a majority of the Court now recognizes that Almendarez-Torres was wrongly decided." Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 1263, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2005) (Thomas, J., concurring). He urges that "in an appropriate case, this Court should consider Almendarez-Torres' continuing viability." Id. Although the Court may overrule Almendarez-Torres at some point in the future, it has not done so, we will not presume to do so for the Court, and we are bound by existing precedent to hold that the Almendarez-Torres exception to the rule announced in Apprendi and extended to the Guidelines in Booker remains good law. See Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S. 203, 237, 117 S.Ct. 1997, 138 L.Ed.2d 391 (1997) ("if a precedent of this Court has direct application in a case, yet appears to rest on reasons rejected in some other line of decisions, the Court of Appeals should follow the case which directly controls, leaving to this Court the prerogative of overruling its own decisions."); see also Shepard, 544 U.S. at __ n. 5, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 1263 n. 5 ("The dissent charges that our decision may portend the extension of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), to proof of prior convictions.... It is up to the future to show whether the dissent is good prophesy."). We therefore conclude that the government need not charge the "fact" of a prior conviction in an indictment and submit it to a jury.

B

Moore raises an argument unaddressed in Dorris, namely that the characterization of a previous...