United States v. Randy Shoffner, Jr. ( 2016 )

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 15-4334
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
RANDY ERIC SHOFFNER, JR.,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Catherine C. Eagles,
District Judge. (1:14-cr-00450-CCE-1)
Submitted: June 1, 2016 Decided: June 15, 2016
Before DUNCAN, FLOYD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Louis C. Allen, Federal Public Defender, Eric D. Placke, First
Assistant Federal Public Defender, Greensboro, North Carolina,
for Appellant. Ripley Rand, United States Attorney, Eric
Iverson, Assistant United States Attorney, Greensboro, North
Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Randy Eric Shoffner, Jr., pled guilty, pursuant to a
conditional plea agreement, to possession of a firearm by a
felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (2012), and was
sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment. Shoffner’s plea agreement
specifically permitted him to appeal the district court’s order
denying Shoffner’s motion to dismiss the charge on the argument
that his prior North Carolina conviction was not a felony under
federal law. Shoffner appeals that issue, and we affirm.
Our recent decision in United States v. Barlow, 811 F.3d
133 (4th Cir. 2015), resolves Shoffner’s claim. In Barlow, we
addressed the impact of the Justice Reinvestment Act of 2011,
2011 N.C. Sess. Laws 192 (JRA), on the North Carolina Structured
Sentencing Act. “[T]he Structured Sentencing Act and its
statutory tables determine if a crime is punishable by a term of
imprisonment of more than one year.” Id. at 137; see United
States v. Simmons, 649 F.3d 237, 240, 249-50 (4th Cir. 2011) (en
banc). The JRA “mandates terms of post-release supervision for
all convicted felons except those serving sentences of life
without parole.” Barlow, 811 F.3d at 137. Shoffner contends
that because the JRA required his placement on supervision
before he had been imprisoned for one year, he had not been
convicted of “a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term
exceeding one year,” as required for conviction under § 922(g).
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In Barlow, we held that in determining whether a prior term
of imprisonment qualifies as a felony, Simmons requires us to
“ask only what term of imprisonment the defendant was exposed to
for his conviction, not the most likely duration of his
imprisonment.” Id. at 140. We held that under state law, the
term of post-release supervision is part of the term of
imprisonment. Id.
Shoffner was sentenced to four to fourteen months’
imprisonment for his North Carolina conviction. Under Barlow,
the district court properly treated this conviction as a felony.
Therefore, we affirm the district court judgment. We dispense
with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
adequately presented in the materials before this court and
argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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