United States v. Salazar-Gonzalez
United States v. Salazar-Gonzalez
Opinion
United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT February 18, 2004
Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 03-40446 Conference Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
CESAR SALAZAR-GONZALEZ,
Defendant-Appellant.
-------------------- Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. L-02-CR-1150-ALL --------------------
Before HIGGINBOTHAM, EMILIO M. GARZA, and PRADO, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Cesar Salazar-Gonzalez (“Salazar”) pleaded guilty to one
count of being found in the United States after deportation
following conviction for an aggravated felony, in violation of
8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b)(2). The district court sentenced
Salazar to 70 months’ imprisonment and three years’ supervised
release.
Salazar argues, for the first time on appeal, that the
sentencing provisions of
8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1) and (b)(2) are
* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4. No. 03-40446 -2-
unconstitutional in light of Apprendi v. New Jersey,
530 U.S. 466(2000). He concedes that this argument is foreclosed by
Almendarez-Torres v. United States,
523 U.S. 224(1998), but he
seeks to preserve the issue for Supreme Court review.
Apprendi did not overrule Almendarez-Torres. See Apprendi,
530 U.S. at 489-90; United States v. Dabeit,
231 F.3d 979, 984(5th Cir. 2000). This court must follow the precedent set in
Almendarez-Torres “unless and until the Supreme Court itself
determines to overrule it.” Dabeit,
231 F.3d at 984(internal
quotation and citation omitted).
Salazar also argues that a conflict exists between the
district court’s oral pronouncement of sentence and the written
judgment because the written judgment contains a condition of
supervised release prohibiting the possession of a dangerous
weapon, but at the sentencing hearing, the court did not mention
this prohibition. For the reasons set forth in United States
v. Torres-Aguilar,
352 F.3d 934, 937-38(5th Cir. 2003), we
conclude that the district court’s omission of the dangerous-
weapon prohibition during the oral pronouncement of sentence
did not create a conflict with the sentence set forth in the
judgment.
AFFIRMED.
Reference
- Status
- Unpublished