Opinion ID: 77212
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Booker Arguments

Text: 159 Ndiaye, Sumbodo, and Aimasiko 10 each argue that the district court violated their Sixth Amendment rights in applying various enhancements because the facts supporting the enhancements were neither admitted by the Appellants nor found by a jury. The Appellants based their arguments on Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 303-04, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 2537-38, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). After the briefing in this case was completed, the Supreme Court, in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 755-56, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), extended its holding in Blakely to the federal sentencing guidelines. The Appellants supplemented their briefs on the basis of Booker. 160 Because the Appellants did not argue about the constitutionality of the guidelines generally or as applied to them before the district court, we review the present claims for plain error. See United States v. Duncan, 400 F.3d 1297, 1301 (11th Cir.2005). An appellate court may only correct such an error if it affects a defendant's substantial rights. See United States v. Rodriguez, 398 F.3d 1291, 1298 (11th Cir.2005). In determining whether the error affected a defendant's substantial rights, we ask whether there is a reasonable probability of a different result if the guidelines had been applied in an advisory instead of binding fashion by the sentencing judge. Id. at 1301. Because we do not know whether there would have been a different result under an advisory guidelines system, the Appellants cannot meet their burden. See id. Accordingly, their Booker arguments are without merit.