UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 04-4523
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
BRIAN ANTONIO BURRELL,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Big Stone Gap. James P. Jones, Chief
District Judge. (CR-03-10095)
Submitted: August 10, 2005 Decided: August 23, 2005
Before WILKINSON, WILLIAMS, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Henry S. Keuling-Stout, KEULING-STOUT, P.C., Big Stone Gap,
Virginia, for Appellant. John L. Brownlee, United States Attorney,
R. Lucas Hobbs, Assistant United States Attorney, Abingdon,
Virginia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Brian Antonio Burrell appeals his forty-six month
sentence imposed after his plea of guilty to forcibly assaulting an
employee or officer of the United States Government in violation of
18 U.S.C.A. § 111(a)(1) (West Supp. 2005). Burrell contends that
the district court should not have treated him as a career offender
under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, because he did not plead
guilty to a “crime of violence.” See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines
Manual § 4B1.1(a)(2003). We agree with the district court that a
conviction of “forcibly assault[ing], resist[ing], oppos[ing],
imped[ing], intimidat[ing], or interfer[ing] with [a federal
officer],” under § 111(a)(1), “has as an element the use, attempted
use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of
another.” USSG § 4B1.2(a). Accordingly, the district court did
not err when it concluded that Burrell pleaded guilty to a crime of
violence.
Burrell also urges us to hold that the manner in which
the district court calculated his sentence violated the Sixth
Amendment. See United States v. Booker, 125 S. Ct. 738 (2005)
(holding that a district court violates the Sixth Amendment when,
acting pursuant to the Sentencing Reform Act and the Guidelines, it
imposes a sentence greater than the maximum authorized by the facts
found by the jury or admitted by the defendant in a guilty plea).
Because the district court relied on no facts, other than Burrell’s
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prior and instant convictions, when calculating Burrell’s sentence
under the Guidelines, Burrell’s Sixth Amendment rights were not
violated. See Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224
(1998) (holding that the fact of a prior conviction need not be
proven to a jury before it can be used to enhance a sentence); see
also United States v. Cheek, 415 F.3d 349 (4th Cir. 2005).
Accordingly, we affirm Burrell’s conviction and sentence. 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 our decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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