Court Opinion

ID: 9881809
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-04 00:00:30.243237+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:18.129032
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-10325         Document: 00516918775             Page: 1      Date Filed: 10/03/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________
                                                                                United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                         Fifth Circuit
                                       No. 23-10325
                                     Summary Calendar                                  FILED
                                     ____________                                October 3, 2023
                                                                                  Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                           Clerk

                                                                       Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Pedro Pena-Talamantes,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                          for the Northern District of Texas
                               USDC No. 4:22-CR-326-1
                      ______________________________

   Before Dennis, Engelhardt, and Wilson, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Pedro Pena-Talamantes appeals his within-guidelines range sentence
   for illegal entry following deportation. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) & (b)(1). The
   district court sentenced Pena-Talamantes to 18 months of imprisonment
   followed by three years of supervised release. Pena-Talamantes contends
   that his supervised release term violates Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466

          _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-10325      Document: 00516918775           Page: 2   Date Filed: 10/03/2023

                                     No. 23-10325

   (2000), because it is greater than the one-year term permitted under
   § 1326(a) and is based on a fact—his prior conviction for a felony—that was
   neither pleaded in the indictment nor found by a jury beyond a reasonable
   doubt or admitted by him in pleading guilty. Pena-Talamantes concedes that
   this issue is foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224
   (1998), and that he seeks to preserve it for possible Supreme Court review.
   The Government moves for summary affirmance, urging that Pena-
   Talamantes’s argument is foreclosed, or, alternatively, for an extension of
   time in which to file a merits brief.
          The parties are correct that Pena-Talamantes’s argument is
   foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres. See United States v. Pervis, 937 F.3d 546,
   553-54 (5th Cir. 2019); United States v. Wallace, 759 F.3d 486, 497 (5th Cir.
   2014). Because the Government’s position “is clearly right as a matter of
   law so that there can be no substantial question as to the outcome of the
   case,” Groendyke Transp., Inc. v. Davis, 406 F.2d 1158, 1162 (5th Cir. 1969),
   summary affirmance is proper. Accordingly, the Government’s motion for
   summary affirmance is GRANTED. The Government’s alternative motion
   for an extension of time is DENIED. The judgment is AFFIRMED.

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