Court Opinion

ID: 36202
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2010-04-25 19:37:48+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:14:52.067449
License: Public Domain

United States Court of Appeals
                                                                 Fifth Circuit

                                                             FILED
               IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS      August 18, 2004
                       FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
                                                       Charles R. Fulbruge III
                                                               Clerk

                            No. 04-20052
                        Conference Calendar

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                    Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

JOSE SANTOS ZUNIGA-VERAS,

                                    Defendant-Appellant.

                       --------------------
          Appeal from the United States District Court
               for the Southern District of Texas
                    USDC No. H-03-CR-157-ALL
                       --------------------

Before HIGGINBOTHAM, DAVIS, and PICKERING, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

     Jose Santos Zuniga-Veras appeals his guilty-plea conviction

for illegal reentry into the United States following an

aggravated felony conviction in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326.

For the first time on appeal, Zuniga-Veras argues that the

sentencing provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1) & (2) are

unconstitutional in light of the Supreme Court’s holding in

Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000).

     *
       Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that
this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except
under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
                             No. 04-20052
                                  -2-

     Under either a de novo or plain error standard of review,

Zuniga-Veras acknowledges that his argument is foreclosed by the

Supreme Court’s decision in Almendarez-Torres v. United States,

523 U.S. 224 (1998), but he seeks to preserve the issue for

Supreme Court review.     Apprendi did not overrule Almendarez-

Torres.   See Apprendi, 530 U.S. at 489-90; United States

v. Dabeit, 231 F.3d 979, 984 (5th Cir. 2000).     Zuniga-Veras’s

argument is foreclosed.    The judgment of the district court is

AFFIRMED.