Court Opinion

ID: 49204
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2010-04-25 23:57:09+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:36.475832
License: Public Domain

United States Court of Appeals
                                                                Fifth Circuit
                                                             F I L E D
               IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT                  April 18, 2007

                                                          Charles R. Fulbruge III
                                                                  Clerk
                            No. 06-40510
                        Conference Calendar

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                    Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

CHRISTIAN ALFREDO PRADO-VASQUEZ,

                                    Defendant-Appellant.

                      --------------------
          Appeal from the United States District Court
               for the Southern District of Texas
                    USDC No. 7:05-CR-766-ALL
                      --------------------

Before HIGGINBOTHAM, BENAVIDES, and PRADO, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:*

     Christian Alfredo Prado-Vasquez appeals his guilty-plea

conviction of, and sentence for, violating 8 U.S.C. § 1326 by

attempting to enter the United States without permission after

deportation.   He argues, in light of Apprendi v. New Jersey,

530 U.S. 466 (2000), that the 46-month term of imprisonment

imposed in his case exceeds the statutory maximum sentence

allowed for the § 1326(a) offense charged in his indictment.

He challenges the constitutionality of § 1326(b)’s treatment of

prior felony and aggravated felony convictions as sentencing

     *
       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this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except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. 06-40510
                                -2-

factors rather than elements of the offense that must be found by

a jury.

     Prado-Vasquez’s constitutional challenge is foreclosed by

Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 235 (1998).

Although he contends that Almendarez-Torres was incorrectly

decided and that a majority of the Supreme Court would overrule

Almendarez-Torres in light of Apprendi, we have repeatedly

rejected such arguments on the basis that Almendarez-Torres

remains binding.   See United States v. Garza-Lopez, 410 F.3d 268,

276 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 126 S. Ct. 298 (2005).   Prado-

Vasquez properly concedes that his argument is foreclosed in

light of Almendarez-Torres and circuit precedent, but he raises

it here to preserve it for further review.   The judgment of the

district court is AFFIRMED.