Opinion ID: 2756539
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Burnett is An Armed Career Criminal Under

Text: 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). Burnett claims that the District Court erred when it determined that he was an armed career criminal under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). He argues that the Court imposed his sentence in violation of the law that the Supreme Court announced in Alleyne v. United States, 133 S.Ct. 2151 (2013), because his predicate criminal convictions were not set forth as part of the allegations in his indictment and the question of whether he had been convicted of the offenses was not submitted to the jury. We hold that the Court properly concluded that Burnett was an armed career criminal and lawfully applied the mandatory minimum penalty required by Section 924(e). 21 Section 924(e) mandates the imposition of a mandatory minimum period of incarceration of 15 years where a defendant is convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) and has three previous convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses. In Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 243, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 1231 (1998), the Supreme Court held that prior convictions that increase the statutory maximum sentence for a particular violation are not elements of an offense, and therefore a district court may determine if there had been such convictions when sentencing a defendant on a new conviction by using a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard. Later, in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348 (2000), the Supreme Court held that, “[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. at 490, 120 S.Ct. at 2362-63. The Court in Alleyne extended the Apprendi rule to proof of facts that increase a mandatory minimum sentence, requiring such facts to be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt; however, the Court did not extend the rule to proof of prior convictions, specifically articulating that the issue was not before the Court. Alleyne, 133 S.Ct. at 2160 n.1. We since have recognized that Alleyne did “nothing to restrict the established exception under Almendarez-Torres that allows judges to consider prior convictions” for purposes of enhanced penalties. United States v. Blair, 734 F.3d 218, 227-28 (3d Cir. 2013). Ultimately, Alleyne’s rule does not apply here to the recidivist enhancement of Section 924(e). Accordingly, we reject Burnett’s argument to the contrary. 22