Opinion ID: 147192
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Due Process Violation at Sentencing

Text: Oaks next argues the district court violated his right to due process under the Fifth Amendment by relying on misinformation contained in the PSR to find him eligible for an enhanced sentence under ACCA. Specifically, Oaks argues the information in the PSR about his prior felonies, which made him ACCA-eligible, was not accurate and the district court should not have used it to enhance his sentence. Once again, the factual predicate for his claim is based on Oaks's mischaracterization of the record. This court has repeatedly held that unless a defendant objects to a specific factual allegation contained in the PSR, the court may accept that fact as true for sentencing purposes. United States v. Moser, 168 F.3d 1130, 1132 (8th Cir.1999) (collecting cases). Thus, a defendant's failure to object to the PSR's factual characterization of his conduct ... is dispositive. United States v. Menteer, 350 F.3d 767, 771 (8th Cir.2003); see also United States v. Arrieta-Buendia, 372 F.3d 953, 955 (8th Cir.2004). Oaks failed to object to the information contained in the PSR detailing his prior felony convictions. Thus, the district court could accept the information as true. Oaks's attempt to save his claim of error by characterizing it as a due process violation is unavailing because his failure to object obviates any argument he could make that the information was inaccurate. We also reject Oaks's attempt to analogize this case to Townsend v. Burke, 334 U.S. 736, 68 S.Ct. 1252, 92 L.Ed. 1690 (1948). In Burke, the defendant was uncounseled and sentenced based upon inaccurate information in his criminal record. 334 U.S. at 740-41, 68 S.Ct. 1252. Neither of these circumstances exist in this case because Oaks was represented by counsel and failed to object to information contained in the PSR, which, as noted above, permitted the district court to accept the information as true. Accordingly, we reject Oaks's claim of error based on his failure to object to the accuracy of the information in the PSR.