Court Opinion

ID: 9893350
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-26 18:00:37.451192+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:02:58.834393
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-50096         Document: 00516945390             Page: 1      Date Filed: 10/26/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________
                                                                                United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                         Fifth Circuit
                                       No. 22-50096
                                     Summary Calendar                                  FILED
                                     ____________                               October 26, 2023
                                                                                  Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                           Clerk

                                                                       Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Raymond Glynn Sanders, Jr.,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                           for the Western District of Texas
                               USDC No. 7:21-CR-257-1
                      ______________________________

   Before Wiener, Stewart, and Douglas, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Raymond Glynn Sanders, Jr., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess
   with intent to distribute, and conspiracy to distribute, a quantity of a mixture
   or substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine base. The district
   court determined that Sanders qualified as a career offender pursuant to

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-50096      Document: 00516945390          Page: 2    Date Filed: 10/26/2023

                                    No. 22-50096

   U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1 and sentenced him within the advisory guidelines range to
   188 months in prison. Sanders appeals his sentence.

          Sanders asserts that the district court erred in classifying him as a
   career offender under § 4B1.1. He contends that the district court improperly
   found that his offense of conviction and his prior conviction for aiding and
   abetting the possession with intent to distribute cocaine base qualified as
   controlled substance offenses within the definition set forth in U.S.S.G.
   § 4B1.2, which does not specifically include inchoate crimes. See § 4B1.2(b).
   Sanders argues that the guidelines commentary, which provides that
   inchoate crimes are controlled substance offenses, should not be afforded
   deference in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kisor v. Wilkie, 139 S.
   Ct. 2400 (2019). See § 4B1.2 cmt. n.1. The district court’s construction and
   application of the Sentencing Guidelines are reviewed de novo. United States
   v. Garza-Lopez, 410 F.3d 268, 273 (5th Cir. 2005).

          In Stinson v. United States, the Supreme Court held that the guidelines
   commentary is authoritative and entitled to deference unless it is inconsistent
   with, or a plainly erroneous reading of, the guidelines definition. 508 U.S. 36,
   38 (1993). We recently rejected the contention that Kisor overruled or
   modified Stinson. See United States v. Vargas, 74 F.4th 673, 677-84 (5th Cir.
   2023) (en banc). We held that conspiracies may constitute a controlled
   substance offense for the purposes of the career offender guidelines because
   the commentary involving inchoate offenses is not inconsistent with the
   guidelines definition. Id. at 684. Accordingly, Sanders’s instant conspiracy
   conviction qualifies as a controlled substance offense. See § 4B1.2 cmt. n.1.

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Case: 22-50096     Document: 00516945390          Page: 3    Date Filed: 10/26/2023

                                   No. 22-50096

   Further, Sanders’s prior conviction for aiding and abetting the possession
   with intent to distribute cocaine base is a controlled substance offense under
   the guidelines definition itself. See Vargas, 74 F.4th at 678 n.6 (noting that
   “aiding and abetting” is not an inchoate crime). Thus, Sanders was correctly
   sentenced as a career offender. See § 4B1.1(a).

          The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

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