Court Opinion

ID: 9407437
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-07-07 00:00:33.425492+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:38.377523
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-40139        Document: 00516811476             Page: 1       Date Filed: 07/06/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________                   United States Court of Appeals
                                                                             Fifth Circuit

                                      No. 22-40139                         FILED
                                    Summary Calendar                    July 6, 2023
                                    ____________                      Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                           Clerk
   United States of America,

                                                                      Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                            versus

   Gabriel Amador,

                                              Defendant—Appellant.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Southern District of Texas
                              USDC No. 2:08-CR-738-1
                     ______________________________

   Before King, Higginson, and Willett, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam:*
         In 2009, a jury convicted Gabriel Amador of conspiracy to possess
   with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of a mixture or substance
   containing methamphetamine (Count 1) and possession of a firearm by a
   felon (Count 2). The district court sentenced him to 360 months’
   imprisonment on Count 1 and 240 months’ imprisonment on Count 2 to be

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-40139        Document: 00516811476        Page: 2   Date Filed: 07/06/2023

                                    No. 22-40139

   served concurrently. The court also imposed five years of supervised release,
   consisting of concurrent terms of five years on Count 1 and three years on
   Count 2. Amador now appeals his sentence.
          Although Amador’s appeal is untimely under Federal Rule of
   Appellate Procedure 4(b), the Government has affirmatively waived the
   rule’s timeliness requirements. As this requirement is not jurisdictional,
   United States v. Martinez, 496 F.3d 387, 388–89 (5th Cir. 2007), and the
   Government has no objection, we consider Amador’s appeal. See United
   States v. Dickerson, 909 F.3d 118, 124 & n.3 (5th Cir. 2018).
          Amador first challenges his 240-month prison sentence on Count 2
   for possession of a firearm by a felon as an illegal sentence. We review this
   claim de novo even where, as here, the defendant did not object to his
   sentence. United States v. Oswalt, 771 F.3d 849, 850 (5th Cir. 2014). At the
   time of his offense, conviction, and sentencing, the maximum statutory
   sentence for possession of a firearm by a felon was 120 months. See 18
   U.S.C. § 922(g)(1); 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(2) (2006). Accordingly, the
   district court’s imposition of 240 months for the offense exceeds the
   statutory maximum and is illegal. See United States v. Sias, 227 F.3d 244, 246
   (5th Cir. 2000).
          The district court amended its judgment in January 2021 to reduce
   Amador’s sentence on Count 2 to 120 months after Probation alerted the
   court to the error. But the district court lacked authority to enter such a
   judgment so long after sentencing. See 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c); Fed. R.
   Crim. P. 35(a) (authorizing a correction for clear error within 14 days after
   sentencing). Thus we vacate Amador’s 240-month prison sentence on Count
   2 and remand for resentencing within the statutory maximum. See 18 U.S.C.
   § 3742(f)(1); see also United States v. Thomas, 600 F.3d 387, 389 (5th Cir.
   2010); United States v. Vera, 542 F.3d 457, 462 (5th Cir. 2008).

                                             2
Case: 22-40139       Document: 00516811476           Page: 3    Date Filed: 07/06/2023

                                      No. 22-40139

            Next, Amador challenges the three special conditions of supervised
   release in the written judgment, entitled “Psychiatric Treatment,”
   “Nighttime Restriction,” and “Gang Prohibition,” as imposing additional
   burdens that were not fully pronounced at sentencing. We disagree.
   Following his conviction, the district court gave Amador a list of possible
   conditions, including the three challenged here and specifically instructed
   counsel to review this list with Amador before sentencing. The conditions in
   the court’s list are virtually identical to those in the written judgment. At
   sentencing, the district court orally made shorthand references to these
   special conditions. Because Amador had notice and an opportunity to object
   to these conditions and because he failed to do so, we review their imposition
   for plain error. See United States v. Grogan, 977 F.3d 348, 352–53 (5th Cir.
   2020).
            To establish plain error, Amador must first show a forfeited error that
   is clear or obvious and that affects his substantial rights. See Puckett v. United
   States, 556 U.S. 129, 135 (2009). A district court must orally pronounce the
   sentence. But a district court need not recite each condition verbatim.
   Grogan, 977 F.3d at 352. As we explained in Grogan, the district court’s
   “shorthand reference” to the full conditions set forth in the document the
   court gave Amador before sentencing is sufficient to announce a condition.
   See id. at 353–54. We hold that Amador fails to show any plain error in the
   imposition of the challenged special conditions.
            We VACATE the prison sentence imposed for Count 2 and
   REMAND for resentencing within the statutory maximum on that count.
   In all other respects, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

                                               3