Opinion ID: 610918
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Finality under the federal repeat offender statute

Text: 7 The federal statutory provision at issue here states, in pertinent part: 8 If any person commits such a violation after one or more prior convictions ... for a felony under any other provision of this subchapter ... or other law of a State ... relating to narcotic drugs, marijuana, or depressant or stimulant substances, have become final, such person shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment which may not be less than 10 years.... 9 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B). The interpretation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B) is a matter of federal, rather than state, law. United States v. Morales, 854 F.2d 65, 68 (5th Cir.1988). We have previously considered the meaning of a final prior conviction for purposes of sentence enhancement under 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(B) in United States v. Allen, 566 F.2d 1193 (3d Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 926, 98 S.Ct. 1491, 55 L.Ed.2d 519 (1978). The defendant in Allen had previously been convicted of a drug offense, but an appeal of his prior conviction was still pending before the Tenth Circuit. The Allen court noted that the intention of Congress in limiting the application of § 841(b)(1)(B) to those whose prior convictions have become final probably arose from several cases in which criminals had to be resentenced in light of the reversal of convictions that had previously subjected them to the repeat offender statute. The court concluded that Congress intended to avoid that problem by limiting recidivist sentencing to cases in which the conviction has become final, in the sense that the time for appeal has expired or a pending appeal has been disposed of. 566 F.2d at 1195. Two other federal courts of appeal have joined the Third Circuit in concluding that the finality requirement of § 841(b)(1)(B) was intended to prevent sentence enhancement based on a prior conviction that remains subject to direct attack on appeal. See United States v. Lippner, 676 F.2d 456 (11th Cir.1982); Williams v. United States, 651 F.2d 648 (9th Cir.1981). 10 Allen did not directly consider for the purposes of § 841(b)(1)(B) the question of the finality of a prior conviction that was subject to dismissal following probation. However, two other federal courts of appeal and one federal district court, relying in part on Allen, have held that convictions that were subject to expungement after probation became final when the time for appeal passed. See United States v. Campbell, 980 F.2d 245, 251 n. 9 (4th Cir.1992); United States v. Morales, 854 F.2d 65, 69 (5th Cir.1988); United States v. Petros, 747 F.Supp. 368, 372 (E.D.Mich.1990). 1 11 Meraz's prior conviction was a final order subject to appeal which she chose not to appeal. A court order imposing a deferred sentence in New Mexico is an appealable final judgment. 1978 N.M.Laws § 31-20-10. Meraz did not take an appeal from her deferred sentence and the time for appeal had passed before her federal sentencing. See D.Ct.Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, September 14, 1992, at 5-6. Thus, as the test for finality under § 841(b)(1)(B) is whether a prior conviction is subject to attack on direct appeal, Meraz's prior conviction had become final and her sentence should have been enhanced pursuant to § 841(b)(1)(b).