UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 04-4824
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
LESSNER ANTWON GILLIARD,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Charleston. Patrick Michael Duffy, District
Judge. (CR-04-297)
Submitted: June 13, 2005 Decided: July 26, 2005
Before NIEMEYER, GREGORY, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
J. Robert Haley, Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellant. J.
Strom Thurmond, Jr., United States Attorney, Alston C. Badger,
Assistant United States Attorney, Charleston, South Carolina, for
Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Lessner Antwon Gilliard pleaded guilty to possession of
a firearm by a convicted felon, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (2000). The
maximum penalty for that offense is ten years. 18 U.S.C.
§ 924(a)(2) (2000). Gilliard was sentenced to seventy months in
prison, to be served consecutively to a state sentence that he was
then serving. Gilliard now appeals his sentence. We affirm.
Gilliard’s presentence report assigned him a base offense
level of 24 because he had two prior felony convictions of either
a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense. See U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2K2.1(a)(2) (2003). Gilliard
contended in the district court and argues on appeal that whether
he had the two prior convictions was a factual determination that
under Blakely v. Washington, 124 S. Ct. 2531 (2004), was required
to be charged in the indictment and either proven to a jury beyond
a reasonable doubt or admitted in his guilty plea.
In both Blakely and United States v. Booker, 125 S. Ct.
738 (2005), the Supreme Court reaffirmed its holding in Almendarez-
Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 244 (1998), that the fact of
a prior conviction need not be proven to a jury beyond a reasonable
doubt. Blakely, 124 S. Ct. at 2536 (quoting Apprendi v. New
Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 490 (2000)); accord Booker, 125 S. Ct. at
756. Here, the record is clear on its face, and Gilliard does not
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dispute, that he had the requisite qualifying felony convictions.
Thus, there was no error under Blakely or Booker.
We accordingly affirm. We dispense with oral argument
because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in
the materials before the court and argument would not aid the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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