IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 13-11388

Summary Calendar

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee

v.

DAVID ALLEN FELTS,

Defendant-Appellant

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Texas

USDC No. 4:13-CR-100-6

Before HIGGINBOTHAM, JONES, and HIGGINSON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

David Allen Felts appeals the 40-year sentence imposed on his guilty 

plea conviction for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or 

more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of 

methamphetamine. See 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(B), and 846. We affirm.

Applying the harmless error doctrine, we reject Felts’s contention that it 

was reversible error to enhance his base offense level by seven levels—for 

* 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.

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

FILED

November 5, 2014

Lyle W. Cayce

Clerk

 

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No. 13-11388

maintaining a premises for drug manufacture or distribution, managing or 

supervising a criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was 

otherwise extensive, and obstructing justice—and to decline to reduce the base 

offense level for acceptance of responsibility. See United States v. Ibarra-Luna, 

628 F.3d 712, 713-14 (5th Cir. 2010); United States v. Delgado-Martinez, 564 

F.3d 750, 752-53 (5th Cir. 2009). Even if the district court erred as to every 

sentencing enhancement that Felts challenges and as to the issue of acceptance 

of responsibility, his guidelines sentencing range would be 360 months to 480 

months after considering the statutory maximum limitation. See 

§ 841(b)(1)(B)(viii). The record makes clear that the district court would have 

imposed the same sentence without the enhancements. The record establishes 

that the district court believed that the maximum sentence, 480 months, was 

the appropriate sentence in light of Felts’s history and characteristics. See

§ 841(b)(1)(B)(viii). Under these circumstances, it was harmless error to omit

any offense level reduction for acceptance of responsibility and to apply the 

enhancements of which Felts now complains. See Ibarra-Luna, 628 F.3d at

713-14; Delgado-Martinez, 564 F.3d at 752-53.

We review for plain error Felts’s claim that, under Alleyne v. United 

States, 133 S. Ct. 2151 (2013), the drug quantity found by the district court 

based on the presentence report was a fact that should have been found by a 

jury beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Hinojosa, 749 F.3d 407, 

411 (5th Cir. 2014). Felts contends that the district court’s factfinding 

effectively raised his statutory minimum sentence from five years to ten and

violated the holding in Alleyne. Felts does not allege and the record does not

indicate that the district court concluded that a 10-year statutory minimum 

sentence applied to him. Rather, the district court imposed a guidelines 

sentence based on relevant conduct, and the facts did not have to be admitted 

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by Felts or found by a jury. See Hinojosa, 749 F.3d at 412-13. Felts’s inability 

to “demonstrate any error at all” means that he cannot prevail on this issue on 

plain error review. United States v. Teuschler, 689 F.3d 397, 400 (5th Cir. 

2012); see Hinojosa, 749 F.3d at 413.

Finally, we find no merit in Felts’s contention that his sentence is 

substantively unreasonable because a guidelines sentence was too severe to 

satisfy statutory sentencing requirements. The district court believed that a 

480-month sentence was the appropriate sentence in light of Felts’s history 

and characteristics. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Felts’s suggestion that this court 

reweigh those factors is unavailing. See Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 51 

(2007); United States v. Campos-Maldonado, 531 F.3d 337, 339 (5th Cir. 2008). 

Moreover, Felts’s guidelines sentence is entitled to a presumption of 

reasonableness. See United States v. Alonzo, 435 F.3d 551, 554 (5th Cir. 2006). 

Felts offers insufficient bases for forgoing application of that presumption and 

supplanting the sentence selected by the district court. See Gall, 552 U.S. at 

51.

AFFIRMED.

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