Filed: Dec. 05, 2003
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS December 5, 2003 FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 02-41705 Summary Calendar UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ISRAEL PINEDA-CORTES, Defendant-Appellant. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. L-02-CR-1010-ALL - Before JONES, BENAVIDES, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* Israel Pineda-Cortes appeals his gu
Summary: United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit F I L E D IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS December 5, 2003 FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III Clerk No. 02-41705 Summary Calendar UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ISRAEL PINEDA-CORTES, Defendant-Appellant. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. L-02-CR-1010-ALL - Before JONES, BENAVIDES, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM:* Israel Pineda-Cortes appeals his gui..
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United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS December 5, 2003
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
No. 02-41705
Summary Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
ISRAEL PINEDA-CORTES,
Defendant-Appellant.
--------------------
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
USDC No. L-02-CR-1010-ALL
--------------------
Before JONES, BENAVIDES, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Israel Pineda-Cortes appeals his guilty-plea conviction and
sentence for illegal entry after deportation. Pineda argues that
a driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) sentence should not have been
assigned two criminal-history points because the sentence was
imposed more than 10 years prior to the commencement of the
instant offense. He also argues that an evading-arrest sentence
should not have been assigned any criminal-history points because
*
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that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent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. 02-41705
-2-
evading arrest is similar to the offense of resisting arrest.
Pineda’s DWI sentence should not have been considered in
calculating his criminal-history score because it occurred more
than 10 years before the instant offense. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.1; see
also U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(e)(2) and (3). Under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(c)
and United States v. Moore,
997 F.2d 30, 33 (5th Cir. 1993),
Pineda’s evading-arrest sentence arguably also should not have
been counted for purposes of his criminal-history score.
However, because the district court could, on remand, impose the
same 21-month sentence, Pineda fails to demonstrate that his
substantial rights were affected by the district court’s error in
calculating his criminal-history category. See United States v.
Leonard,
157 F.3d 343, 346 (5th Cir. 1998). Consequently,
despite Pineda’s argument to the contrary, he fails to satisfy
the plain-error standard of review.
Id.
Pineda contends that the sentence-enhancing provisions
contained in 18 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1) and (b)(2) are
unconstitutional on their face and as applied in light of
Apprendi v. New Jersey,
530 U.S. 466 (2000). Pineda concedes
that his challenge to the constitutionality of 8 U.S.C.
§ 1326(b)(1) and (b)(2) is foreclosed by 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). This court
No. 02-41705
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must follow the precedent set in Almendarez-Torres “unless and
until the Supreme Court itself determines to overrule it.”
Dabeit, 231 F.3d at 984 (internal quotation marks and citation
omitted). The district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED.