Opinion ID: 196196
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Conspiracy and Career Offender Status

Text: 37 Pierce's final claim, made solely to preserve the issue for further appeal, is that a conspiracy conviction cannot serve as a triggering or predicate offense for purposes of the career offender guideline. Pierce acknowledges that we recently decided this issue against him, see United States v. Piper, 35 F.3d 611, 616-19 (1st Cir.1994), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 115 S.Ct. 1118, 130 L.Ed.2d 1082 (1995), and that this panel is duty-bound to follow Piper, see, e.g., Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. v. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Auth., 991 F.2d 935, 939 n. 3 (1st Cir.1993) (in a multi-panel circuit, newly constituted panels, generally speaking, are bound by prior decisions on point). We therefore reject the claim.