UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 04-4727
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
ARCHIE FULTON MOORE,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. William L. Osteen,
District Judge. (CR-03-374)
Submitted: June 26, 2006 Decided: July 19, 2006
Before MOTZ and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit
Judge.
Affirmed in part; vacated and remanded in part by unpublished per
curiam opinion.
Anne R. Littlejohn, LAW OFFICE OF ANNE R. LITTLEJOHN, Greensboro,
North Carolina, for Appellant. Anna Mills Wagoner, United States
Attorney, Sandra J. Hairston, Assistant United States Attorney,
Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
Archie Fulton Moore pled guilty pursuant to a plea
agreement to one count of conspiracy to distribute in excess of
fifty grams of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C.
§ 841(b)(1)(A) (2000). He was sentenced to 260 months in prison
and ten years of supervised release. On appeal, Moore’s counsel
asserts that Moore’s sentence was imposed in violation of United
States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005). Moore has filed a pro se
supplemental brief in which he claims that he received ineffective
assistance of counsel and that his sentence violated his rights
under the Sixth Amendment. We affirm Moore’s conviction but vacate
and remand for resentencing.
Because Moore failed to challenge his sentence in the
district court, we review his sentence for plain error. See United
States v. Hughes, 401 F.3d 540, 547 (4th Cir. 2005). In Booker,
the Supreme Court held that the mandatory guidelines scheme that
provided for sentence enhancements based on facts found by the
court by a preponderance of the evidence violated the Sixth
Amendment. Booker, 543 U.S. at 244. The Court remedied the
constitutional violation by severing two statutory provisions, 18
U.S.C.A. § 3553(b)(1) (West Supp. 2004) (requiring sentencing
courts to impose a sentence within the applicable guidelines
range), and 18 U.S.C.A. § 3742(e) (West 2000 & Supp. 2004) (setting
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forth appellate standards of review for guideline issues), thereby
making the guidelines advisory. Hughes, 401 F.3d at 546.
We conclude that the enhancement to Moore’s sentence
based on drug quantity was error under the Sixth Amendment as
applied in Booker, because the facts supporting this enhancement
were not alleged in the indictment or admitted by Moore.* Based on
the facts presented in the indictment, Moore was responsible for in
excess of fifty grams of cocaine base, resulting in a total offense
level of thirty-two, instead of the level thirty-five used by the
district court. Together with a criminal history category of IV,
Moore’s guideline range would be 168 to 210 months of imprisonment.
Because Moore’s offense carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 240
months, 240 months became the guideline sentence under USSG
§ 5G1.1(b). The 260-month sentence imposed does not fall within
the guidelines range calculated without the improper enhancement.
Accordingly, Moore’s sentence constitutes plain error that affects
his substantial rights and requires resentencing pursuant to Booker
and Hughes.
As to Moore’s assertion that he received ineffective
assistance of counsel, such claims are generally not cognizable on
*
Just as we noted in Hughes, 401 F.3d at 545 n.4, “[w]e of
course offer no criticism of the district judge, who followed the
law and procedure in effect at the time” of Moore’s sentencing.
See generally Johnson v. United States, 520 U.S. 461, 468 (1997)
(stating that an error is “plain” if “the law at the time of trial
was settled and clearly contrary to the law at the time of
appeal”).
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direct appeal. To allow for adequate development of the record, a
defendant must bring an ineffective assistance of counsel claim in
a 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2000) motion, unless the record conclusively
establishes his rights to relief. United States v. Richardson, 195
F.3d 192, 198 (4th Cir. 1999). We find no conclusive evidence of
ineffective assistance on the record before us.
We therefore affirm Moore’s conviction but vacate his
sentence and remand for resentencing consistent with Booker and its
progeny. We grant Moore’s motion to file a pro se supplemental
brief. 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 IN PART;
VACATED AND REMANDED IN PART
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