United States v. Jenkins

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, v.  No. 00-4295 SCOTTIE JENKINS, a/k/a Boobie, Defendant-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Spartanburg. G. Ross Anderson, Jr., District Judge. (CR-99-769) Submitted: January 25, 2002 Decided: February 7, 2002 Before LUTTIG, WILLIAMS, and MICHAEL, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. COUNSEL Frank L. Eppes, EPPES & PLUMBLEE, P.A., Greenville, South Car- olina, for Appellant. J. Rene Josey, United States Attorney, E. Jean Howard, Assistant United States Attorney, Greenville, South Caro- lina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). 2 UNITED STATES v. JENKINS OPINION PER CURIAM: Scottie Jenkins appeals his conviction and sentence, pursuant to a guilty plea without a written plea agreement, for conspiracy to pos- sess cocaine base with the intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 841, 846 (West 1999 & Supp. 2001). Finding no error, we affirm Jenkins’ conviction and sentence. Jenkins claims the district court did not satisfy the minimum requirements of Fed. R. Crim. P. 11 when it accepted his guilty plea because the court failed to fully explain the elements of the offense and because his testimony could not form the basis of a voluntary and intelligent plea. We have reviewed the record, however, and find no reversible error in Jenkins’ Rule 11 hearing. Both the Government in its summary of facts, and the district court in its explanation of the charge contained in the indictment, summarized the elements of the drug conspiracy. See generally United States v. Rhynes, 206 F.3d 349, 361 (4th Cir. 1999); United States v. Carter, 662 F.2d 274, 276 (4th Cir. 1981). Moreover, at the plea hearing, Jenkins stated he under- stood the elements of the offense to which he was pleading guilty and indicated he had in fact distributed drugs. Accordingly, we affirm Jen- kins’ conviction. Jenkins also claims his 262-month sentence is invalid under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000). Because Jenkins’ sen- tence is not above the thirty year statutory maximum of § 841(b)(1)(C) for a defendant with a prior felony drug conviction, we find Apprendi is not implicated and affirm his sentence.* See United States v. Promise, 255 F.3d 150 (4th Cir. 2001) (en banc), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Sept. 20, 2001) (No. 01-6398); United States v. Din- nall, 269 F.3d 418 (4th Cir. 2001). We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal conten- *At the time of the present conviction, Jenkins had two prior convic- tions for a felony drug offense, thus triggering § 841(b)(1)(C)’s thirty year maximum penalty. UNITED STATES v. JENKINS 3 tions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED