United States v. Christopher Rogers

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 14-4767 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff – Appellee, v. CHRISTOPHER RAY-BRYAN ROGERS, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Florence. Mary G. Lewis, District Judge. (4:14-cr-00028-MGL-1) Submitted: March 17, 2015 Decided: March 19, 2015 Before WYNN, DIAZ, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Michael A. Meetze, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Florence, South Carolina, for Appellant. William N. Nettles, United States Attorney, Robert Frank Daley, Jr., Assistant United States Attorney, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: In accordance with a written plea agreement, Christopher Ray-Bryan Rogers pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) (2012). Rogers was sentenced as an armed career criminal to 200 months in prison. He now appeals, claiming that the district court erred when it increased his term of imprisonment based upon prior convictions that were neither alleged in the indictment nor found by a jury. Rogers concedes, however, that his argument is foreclosed by Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224 (1998). We are “bound by Almendarez-Torres unless and until the Supreme Court says otherwise.” United States v. Graham, 711 F.3d 445, 455 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 134 S. Ct. 449 (2013). The Supreme Court has not overruled Almendarez-Torres. 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 2