United States v. Mandrail Woodberry
United States v. Mandrail Woodberry
Opinion
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 18-4472
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
MANDRAIL JAMAR WOODBERRY,
Defendant - Appellant.
On Remand from the Supreme Court of the United States. (S. Ct. No. 19-5501)
Submitted: December 14, 2021 Decided: January 18, 2022
Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, HARRIS and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
George E. Crump, III, Rockingham, North Carolina, for Appellant. Sandra J. Hairston, Acting United States Attorney, Angela H. Miller, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM:
In February 2018, Mandrail Jamar Woodberry pled guilty pursuant to a plea
agreement to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of
18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2), and he was sentenced to 119 months in prison. We previously
affirmed the district court’s judgment, rejecting Woodberry’s challenge to the
reasonableness of his sentence. See United States v. Woodberry,
756 F. App’x 319(4th
Cir. 2019) (No. 18-4472). The Supreme Court granted Woodberry’s petition for a writ of
certiorari, vacated our judgment, and remanded the case for further consideration in light
of Rehaif v. United States,
139 S. Ct. 2191(2019). Woodberry v. United States,
140 S. Ct. 492(2019). Following a lengthy abeyance, the parties filed supplemental briefs addressing
the impact, if any, of Greer v. United States,
141 S. Ct. 2090(2021), on Woodberry’s
conviction. We agree with the Government that, in light of Greer, Woodberry cannot
satisfy the requirements for demonstrating reversible error on his unpreserved Rehaif
claim.
Woodberry can obtain relief on his Rehaif challenge only by satisfying the plain
error standard. See
id. at 2096. To establish plain error, Woodberry must first demonstrate
the threshold requirements of (1) an error (2) that is plain and (3) that “affected [his]
substantial rights,” which generally requires “a reasonable probability that, but for the
error, the outcome of the proceeding would have been different.” See Rosales-Mireles v.
United States,
138 S. Ct. 1897, 1904-05(2018) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also
Henderson v. United States,
568 U.S. 266, 269(2013) (holding that error is “plain” if clear
or obvious at the time of appellate consideration).
2 We find that Woodberry’s Rehaif challenge fails the third prong. Contrary to
Woodberry’s claim that he can present a plausible argument regarding whether, at the time
he committed the firearms offense at issue here, he knew he had been convicted of a crime
punishable by more than one year in prison, Woodberry’s criminal record confirms that he
was imprisoned for more than one year for multiple prior felony convictions. Woodberry’s
prior felony “convictions are substantial evidence that he knew [he was a] felon[].” Greer,
141 S. Ct. at 2097-98. In fact, Woodberry had a prior North Carolina conviction for felony
possession of a firearm by a felon, which in and of itself placed Woodberry on notice of
his felon status. See, e.g., United States v. Benamor,
937 F.3d 1182, 1189(9th Cir. 2019)
(finding that, following Rehaif, the defendant could not show that his substantial rights
were affected, in part because the defendant had a prior felon-in-possession conviction).
We therefore conclude that Woodberry’s guilty plea remains valid after Rehaif.
Accordingly, and for the reasons set forth in our original opinion, see Woodberry,
756 F. App’x at 320, we affirm the criminal judgment. We deny Woodberry’s motion to
file a pro se supplemental brief. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument
would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
3
Reference
- Status
- Unpublished