UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 07-4950
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
ELSON PRESSLEY,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Wilmington. James C. Dever III,
District Judge. (7:07-cr-00041-D)
Submitted: April 24, 2008 Decided: May 2, 2008
Before WILKINSON and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Thomas P. McNamara, Federal Public Defender, Stephen C. Gordon,
Assistant Federal Public Defender, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC
DEFENDER, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellant. George E. B.
Holding, United States Attorney, Anne M. Hayes, Banumathi
Rangarajan, Assistant United States Attorneys, OFFICE OF THE UNITED
STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Elson Pressley pled guilty, without a plea agreement, to
possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, in
violation of 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 922(g)(1), 924 (West 2000 & Supp.
2007). He received an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career
Criminal Act (“ACCA”), 18 U.S.C.A. § 924(e) (West 2000 & Supp.
2007). Pressley timely appealed.
Pressley asserts that the ACCA enhancement violated his
Sixth Amendment rights because his prior convictions, upon which
the court based the enhancement, were not submitted to a jury,
proved beyond a reasonable doubt, or admitted by him. However, as
Pressley recognizes, this court rejected the same argument in
United States v. Cheek, 415 F.3d 349, 352-54 (4th Cir. 2005); see
also United States v. Thompson, 421 F.3d 278, 283 (4th Cir. 2005).
A panel of this court may not overrule a prior published decision
of the court. United States v. Ruhe, 191 F.3d 376, 388 (4th Cir.
1999).
Accordingly, we affirm Pressley’s 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 the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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