Court Opinion

ID: 9908891
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-12 01:00:44.467898+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:38.208189
License: Public Domain

Case: 22-30796         Document: 00516997059             Page: 1      Date Filed: 12/11/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                      ____________
                                                                                United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                         Fifth Circuit
                                       No. 22-30796
                                     Summary Calendar                                  FILED
                                     ____________                              December 11, 2023
                                                                                  Lyle W. Cayce
   United States of America,                                                           Clerk

                                                                       Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                             versus

   Jerome Jackson,

                                               Defendant—Appellant.
                      ______________________________

                      Appeal from the United States District Court
                         for the Western District of Louisiana
                               USDC No. 6:20-CR-48-7
                      ______________________________

   Before King, Haynes, and Graves, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Jerome Jackson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess
   with the intent to distribute heroin. He now argues that he should not have
   been sentenced as a career offender and that his guidelines range calculation
   should have included a mitigating role reduction pursuant to U.S.S.G.
   § 3B1.2.

         _____________________
          *
              This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 22-30796      Document: 00516997059          Page: 2   Date Filed: 12/11/2023

                                    No. 22-30796

          First, Jackson correctly concedes that our recent en banc decision in
   United States v. Vargas, 74 F.4th 673, 680-90 (5th Cir. 2023) (en banc),
   petition for cert. filed (U.S. Oct. 23, 2023) (No. 23-5875), forecloses his
   argument that his conspiracy conviction was not a controlled substance
   offense for purpose of the career offender enhancement. Second, based on
   the record evidence of the content of Jackson’s recorded conversations with
   the leader of the conspiracy, the district court did not clearly err in
   concluding that he was not entitled to a § 3B1.2 mitigating role reduction. See
   United States v. Bello-Sanchez, 872 F.3d 260, 263-65 (5th Cir. 2017); United
   States v. Castro, 843 F.3d 608, 613-14 (5th Cir. 2016).
          AFFIRMED.

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