Court Opinion

ID: 9964110
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-04-27 00:00:38.815995+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:25:10.381809
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-10932      Document: 115-1         Page: 1   Date Filed: 04/26/2024

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

                              No. 22-10932
                                                                         FILED
                                                                     April 26, 2024
                            ____________
                                                                    Lyle W. Cayce
United States of America,                                                Clerk

                                                         Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                   versus

Joel Miles,

                                        Defendant—Appellant.
               ______________________________

               Appeal from the United States District Court
                   for the Northern District of Texas
                        USDC No. 4:22-CR-140-1
               ______________________________

Before Richman, Chief Judge, and Oldham and Ramirez, Circuit
Judges.
Per Curiam:
      Fort Worth police arrested Joel Miles after finding an unregistered
short-barreled rifle in his car. Miles is a convicted felon, so federal
prosecutors charged him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The parties
then entered into a plea agreement by which the government agreed to
dismiss the § 922(g)(1) charge. In exchange, Miles agreed to plead guilty to
possessing an unregistered short-barreled rifle in violation of 26 U.S.C.
§ 5861(d). Miles also agreed to waive his right to appeal the § 5861(d)
Case: 22-10932          Document: 115-1          Page: 2      Date Filed: 04/26/2024

                                      No. 22-10932

conviction. * The district court accepted the plea agreement and imposed a
115-month sentence.
        Miles now seeks to appeal his § 5861(d) conviction, even though
knowingly and voluntarily waived the right to do so in his plea agreement.
Miles contends that because short-barreled rifles are in common use,
Congress cannot regulate them under the Second Amendment as interpreted
by the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen, 597
U.S. 1 (2022). And he alleges his appeal waiver was ineffective as to that
claim because in his view, a defendant cannot waive the right to assert that
his statute of conviction is unconstitutional.
        Miles’ argument is foreclosed. See United States v. Portillo-Munoz, 643
F.3d 437, 442 (5th Cir. 2011) (enforcing an appeal waiver against a
constitutional challenge to a statute of conviction); see also United States v.
Ford, 688 F. App’x 309, 310–11 (5th Cir. 2017) (per curiam) (citing Portillo-
Munoz for the proposition that constitutional claims “may be waived by a
valid appeal waiver”); United States v. Caldwell, 38 F.4th 1161 (5th Cir. 2022)
(per curiam) (holding defendants can waive the right to collaterally attack a
conviction on constitutional grounds). Miles therefore waived the right to
press his Second Amendment claim on appeal.
        APPEAL DISMISSED.

        _____________________
        *
          The waiver was subject to limited exceptions that Miles concedes are not relevant
in this case.

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