United States v. Sanchez-Ramos ( 2003 )

United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
F I L E D
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS April 24, 2003
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Charles R. Fulbruge III
Clerk
No. 02-40471
Conference Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
JOSE LUIS SANCHEZ-RAMOS,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
USDC No. L:01-CR-1229-ALL
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Before DAVIS, BARKSDALE, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Jose Luis Sanchez-Ramos appeals his conviction and sentence
following his guilty plea to illegal reentry. He argues that the
magistrate judge lacked jurisdiction to conduct his guilty-plea
proceeding because the district court did not enter an order of
referral for that purpose. Sanchez has waived review of this
procedural error by his failure to object in the district court.
*
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that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent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. 02-40471
-2-
See United States v. Bolivar-Munoz, 313 F.3d 253, 255 (5th Cir.
2002), cert. denied, 2003 WL 729161 (U.S. Mar. 31, 2003).
Sanchez additionally argues that the “felony” and
“aggravated felony” provisions of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1)&(2) are
unconstitutional in light of Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466(2000); however, he concedes that this issue is foreclosed, and
he raises it only to preserve its further review by the Supreme
Court. This argument is indeed foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres
v. United States, 523 U.S. 224 (1998), and we must therefore
follow the precedent set in Almendarez-Torres “unless and until
the Supreme Court itself determines to overrule it.” United
States v. Dabeit, 231 F.3d 979, 984 (5th Cir. 2000) (internal
quotation and citation omitted).
AFFIRMED.