Court Opinion

ID: 9409393
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-18 00:00:31.470908+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:50.209143
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-50083   Document: 00516823321   Page: 1   Date Filed: 07/17/2023

          United States Court of Appeals
               for the Fifth Circuit
                           ____________
                                                          United States Court of Appeals
                                                                   Fifth Circuit
                            No. 23-50083
                          Summary Calendar                       FILED
                          ____________                       July 17, 2023
                                                            Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                     Clerk

                                                   Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                versus

   Adolph Gamez, Jr.,

                                               Defendant—Appellant,

                        consolidated with
                          _____________

                            No. 23-50084
                          _____________

   United States of America,

                                                   Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                versus

   Leonel Fajardo-Ruiz,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
Case: 23-50083         Document: 00516823321             Page: 2      Date Filed: 07/17/2023

                                          No. 23-50083
                                        c/w No. 23-50084

                      ______________________________

                     Appeals from the United States District Court
                          for the Western District of Texas
                      USDC Nos. 4:22-CR-667-1, 4:22-CR-650-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Higginbotham, Stewart, and Southwick, Circuit
   Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Leonel Fajardo-Ruiz 1 appeals his conviction and sentence for illegal
   reentry after removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b)(2), as well as the
   order revoking a term of supervised release he was serving for a prior offense.
   He has not briefed, and has thus waived, any challenge to the revocation of
   supervised release or to his revocation sentence. See United States v. Reagan,
   596 F.3d 251, 254–55 (5th Cir. 2010). In his sole issue on appeal, Fajardo-
   Ruiz contends that Section 1326(b) is unconstitutional because it allows a
   sentence above the otherwise applicable statutory maximum based on facts
   that are neither alleged in the indictment nor found by a jury beyond a
   reasonable doubt.         He has filed an unopposed motion for summary
   disposition and a letter brief explaining that he has raised this issue only to
   preserve it for further review and conceding correctly that this issue 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), Fajardo-Ruiz’s motion is GRANTED, and
   the district court’s judgments are AFFIRMED.

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
          1
            Although No. 23-50083 lists the Appellant’s name as Adolph Gamez, Jr., his
   counsel and the presentence report indicate that his true name is Leonel Fajardo-Ruiz.

                                                2