Court Opinion

ID: 9391706
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-03 00:00:53.805413+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:43.955627
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-50852         Document: 00516734936             Page: 1      Date Filed: 05/02/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                     _____________
                                                                                United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                         Fifth Circuit
                                      No. 22-50852
                                  consolidated with                                    FILED
                                      No. 22-50865                                    May 2, 2023
                                    Summary Calendar                              Lyle W. Cayce
                                    _____________                                      Clerk

   United States of America,

                                                                       Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Rudy Alexander Ventura-Recinos,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                     Appeals from the United States District Court
                          for the Western District of Texas
                              USDC Nos. 4:22-CR-126-1,
                                    4:22-CR-175-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Jolly, Oldham, and Wilson, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Rudy Alexander Ventura-Recinos appeals his guilty plea conviction
   and sentence for illegal reentry into the United States under 8 U.S.C.
   § 1326(a) and (b)(1). He also appeals the district court’s order revoking the

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-50852      Document: 00516734936         Page: 2    Date Filed: 05/02/2023

                                      22-50852
                                  c/w No. 22-50865

   term of supervised release he was serving at the time of the offense. Because
   his appellate brief does not address the revocation or the revocation sentence,
   he abandons any challenge to that order. See Yohey v. Collins, 985 F.2d 222,
   224-25 (5th Cir. 1993).
          Ventura-Recinos challenges the district court’s application of the
   enhanced penalty range in § 1326(b) as unconstitutional because it permits a
   defendant to be sentenced above the statutory maximum of § 1326(a) based
   on the fact of a prior conviction that was not alleged in the indictment or
   found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. He raises the issue to preserve it
   for further review and has filed an unopposed motion for summary
   disposition, correctly conceding that it is foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres v.
   United States, 523 U.S. 224 (1998). See United States v. Pervis, 937 F.3d 546,
   553-54 (5th Cir. 2019).
          Because summary disposition is appropriate, see Groendyke Transp.,
   Inc. v. Davis, 406 F.2d 1158, 1162 (5th Cir. 1969), Ventura-Recinos’s motion
   is GRANTED, and the district court’s judgments are AFFIRMED.

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