Opinion ID: 201912
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: constitutional contentions

Text: 16 McInnis raises (for the first time on appeal) three constitutional arguments challenging his sentence. Plain error review applies. United States v. D'Amario, III, 412 F.3d 253, 256 (1st Cir.2005). These arguments are readily disposed of. 17 McInnis argues that the district court imposed a more severe revocation sentence as punishment for the exercise of his Sixth Amendment right to a hearing regarding his release violations. While the district court questioned McInnis's motives in challenging his fourth, and most severe, violation, there is, as noted above, no evidence to suggest that the hearing was a factor in the court's sentencing. The court gave a number of reasons sufficient to justify McInnis's revocation sentence. There was no Sixth Amendment error. 18 McInnis further contends that the court's revocation of his release is a sentence enhancement based upon an unproven criminal record, raising Sixth Amendment concerns. He argues that this circuit should abandon its treatment of recidivist enhancements based upon what he labels the doomed status of Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998). This court, however, continues to be bound by Almendarez-Torres. See Work, 409 F.3d at 491 n. 1; United States v. Gomez-Estrada, 273 F.3d 400, 401 (1st Cir.2001) (we deem ourselves bound to follow the holding in Almendarez-Torres unless and until the Supreme Court abrogates that decision); United States v. Terry, 240 F.3d 65, 73-74 (1st Cir.2001) (until Almendarez-Torres is overruled, we are bound by it). As McInnis concedes in his brief, his argument fails as long as Almendarez-Torres remains a viable precedent. 19 Finally, McInnis claims that his post-revocation sentence raises double jeopardy concerns under the Fifth Amendment either for the original offense or the subsequent violation. His arguments are without merit. First, § 3583(e) directs courts considering revocation sanctions to consider the class of offense responsible for the original sentence. See Tapia-Escalera, 356 F.3d at 185. Although the punishment imposed in response to the release violations is in addition to prior punishment, it is treated as part of the penalty for the initial offense, thus obviating double jeopardy concerns. Johnson v. United States, 529 U.S. 694, 699-700, 120 S.Ct. 1795, 146 L.Ed.2d 727 (2000). In addition, McInnis argues that his revocation sentence punishes him twice for his cocaine use for which he was referred to community confinement. His revocation sentence, however, was based, among other things, on his later possession of marijuana.