Court Opinion

ID: 9378550
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-10 20:00:22.243024+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:22.017780
License: Public Domain

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
                                File Name: 23a0124n.06

                                           No. 22-5185

                          UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                               FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT                                   FILED
                                                                                 Mar 10, 2023
                                                   )                         DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                   )
        Plaintiff-Appellee,                        )         ON APPEAL FROM THE
                                                   )         UNITED STATES DISTRICT
        v.                                         )         COURT FOR THE EASTERN
                                                   )         DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
STANLEY JACKSON, III,                              )
                                                   )                                OPINION
        Defendant-Appellant.

Before: MOORE, CLAY, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges.

       CLAY, Circuit Judge. Defendant Stanley Jackson, III, appeals from the district court’s

judgment of conviction and sentence for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine

and fentanyl, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and for possession of a firearm by a felon, in

violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the district court’s

judgment.

                                        BACKGROUND

       In September 2021, Defendant pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute

methamphetamine and fentanyl, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and to possession of a

firearm by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

       Defendant’s presentence investigation report sets forth Defendant’s criminal history. In

1986, Defendant was convicted of one count of robbery in the first degree in Fayette County,

Kentucky. In 1998, Defendant was convicted of three counts of robbery in the first degree and

two counts of complicity to commit robbery in the first degree, also in Fayette County. The 1998
No. 22-5185, United States v. Jackson

convictions for the five robberies were charged in the same indictment. Of these five robberies,

two occurred on July 19, one on July 21, one on July 24, and one on July 25, all in 1998. The

robberies occurred at five locations: Super America, Shell Food Mart, Bryan Avenue Liquor Store,

Electro Services, and Chevron.

       Based on these prior convictions, the presentence report classified Defendant as an armed

career criminal, under 18 § U.S.C. 924(e)(1), because he had at least three convictions for violent

felonies committed “on occasions different.” This finding raised Defendant’s total offense level

under the Sentencing Guidelines to 31, under § 4B1.4(b)(3). The presentence report assigned

Defendant 15 criminal history points, which corresponds to a criminal history category of VI. An

offense level of 31 and a criminal history category of VI resulted in a Guidelines range of 188 to

235 months of imprisonment.

       Defendant objected to the presentence report’s classification of him as an armed career

criminal under 18 § U.S.C. 924(e)(1) and U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4(b)(3). He contended that his 1998

robbery convictions counted as only one predicate offense because they were committed in

succession with no intervening arrests. The district court overruled Defendant’s objection. It

determined that Defendant’s five 1998 robbery convictions each counted as a separate predicate

offense because the robberies occurred on four different dates and at five different locations, and

therefore were committed on different occasions.

       Having overruled Defendant’s objection, the district court calculated the applicable

Sentencing Guidelines range to be 188 to 235 months, as set forth in the presentence report. The

district court sentenced Defendant to 225 months of imprisonment. Defendant timely appealed.

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No. 22-5185, United States v. Jackson

                                         DISCUSSION

       Defendant’s total offense level derived from § 4B1.4, which provides an offense-level

enhancement for defendants whose criminal history qualifies them as “armed career criminals.”

The Guidelines Manual’s definition of “armed career criminal” incorporates a standard provided

by statute. U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4(a). A defendant is an “armed career criminal” for § 4B1.4 purposes

if he “is subject to an enhanced sentence under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 924(e).” See id.

Section 924(e), in turn, subjects defendants convicted under § 922(g) to an enhanced mandatory

minimum sentence of fifteen years if they previously have committed three or more violent

felonies “on occasions different from one another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). This case concerns

the designation of offenses as committed “on occasions different” under § 924(e)(1), which

determines whether a defendant is subject to § 4B1.4’s offense level enhancement as an armed

career criminal.

       On appeal, Defendant challenges the district court’s designation of Defendant as an armed

career criminal. However, Defendant does not dispute the district court’s determination that the

five robberies of which he was convicted constitute violent felonies. Rather, for the first time,

Defendant contends that the Constitution barred the district court from finding the facts needed to

make the determination that his robberies occurred on different “occasions.” See 18 U.S.C.

§ 924(e)(1). Thus, in Defendant’s view, because the district court was barred from making these

findings, the district court erred by designating Defendant an armed career criminal for purposes

of calculating the applicable Sentencing Guidelines range.

       Because Defendant raises this argument for the first time on appeal, we review it for plain

error. United States v. Vonner, 516 F.3d 382, 385 (6th Cir. 2008) (en banc). To succeed on plain-

error review, Defendant must prove: (1) there was an error (2) that was “clear or obvious” and
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No. 22-5185, United States v. Jackson

(3) that affected his “substantial rights.” Puckett v. United States, 556 U.S. 129, 135 (2009). If he

does so, we have discretion to remedy the error, but only if the error “seriously affect[s] the

fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” Id. (quoting United States v.

Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 736 (1993)). With this standard in mind, we turn to whether the district court

plainly erred when it found the facts necessary to the occasions-different inquiry.

       Under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), a judge may find the “fact of a prior

conviction,” but all other “fact[s] that increase[] the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed

statutory maximum” must be included in the indictment and proved to a jury beyond a reasonable

doubt. Id. at 490. Defendant argues that the factual findings necessary to the occasions-different

inquiry fall under the Apprendi general rule, and therefore may only be found by a jury, and not

by the sentencing judge.

       However, this Court has previously held that the facts governing the occasions-different

inquiry are included in “the fact of a prior conviction,” so they come within the Apprendi

exception. United States v. Burgin, 388 F.3d 177, 186 (6th Cir. 2004). We have since reaffirmed

this rule. United States v. Williams, 39 F.4th 342, 351 (6th Cir. 2022); see also United States v.

Belcher, 40 F.4th 430, 432 (6th Cir. 2022); see also United States v. Lovell, No. 20-6287, 2023

WL 1879530, at *3 (6th Cir. Feb. 10, 2023). The district court did not err—let alone plainly so—

by applying this settled rule.

       Resisting this conclusion, Defendant contends that this line of cases was wrongly decided

and should be overturned. But a prior published panel decision “remains controlling authority

unless an inconsistent decision of the United States Supreme Court requires modification of the

decision or this Court sitting en banc overrules the prior decision.” Salmi v. Sec’y of Health &

Human Servs., 774 F.2d 685, 689 (6th Cir. 1985). Defendant has identified no change in law that
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No. 22-5185, United States v. Jackson

undermines our precedent on this question, and so we are bound by it. Cf. Wooden, 142 S. Ct.

1063, 1068 n.3 (2022) (declining to address whether the Sixth Amendment requires that a jury,

rather than a judge, resolve whether prior crimes occurred on a single occasion).

                                        CONCLUSION

       For the reasons stated above, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

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