United States v. Boone

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Plaintiff-Appellee, v. No. 95-5957 JOSEPH A. BOONE, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore. Alexander Harvey II, Senior District Judge. (CR-95-227-H) Submitted: August 30, 1996 Decided: September 20, 1996 Before HALL, MURNAGHAN, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges. _________________________________________________________________ Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. _________________________________________________________________ COUNSEL Daniel E. Ellenbogen, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Jamie M. Bennett, Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee. _________________________________________________________________ Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). _________________________________________________________________ OPINION PER CURIAM: In June 1995 Appellant Joseph Boone pled guilty to illegally pos- sessing a firearm as a convicted felon.* Boone contends the district court erred in determining his sentence under the federal sentencing guidelines. Specifically, Boone claims that the district court consid- ered a conviction that was too old to be used in determining his crimi- nal history points and his base offense level. Finding no reversible error, we affirm. The only issue in this appeal is whether Boone's armed robbery conviction in 1971 should be used in determining Boone's base offense level and criminal history category under the federal sentenc- ing guidelines. Boone's conviction in 1971 resulted in a sentence of twenty years. In August 1976 Boone was paroled after serving five years and two months of his twenty-year sentence. Boone's parole ceased to be actively monitored in May 1980. However, Boone was arrested for theft in December 1980. After a period of delay, Boone's parole was revoked and he was sentenced to serve the remainder of his twenty-year sentence. On the theft charge, Boone received four years imprisonment to be served concur- rently with his armed robbery conviction. In October 1985, Boone was paroled both on the 1971 armed robbery conviction and the 1982 theft conviction. Boone argues that he was not "incarcerated" as a result of his 1971 armed robbery conviction within fifteen years from his current offense and thus the district court should not have considered it in determining his criminal history category or base offense level under United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual, §§ 2K2.1(a)(4)(A), 4A1.2 (Nov. 1995). Specifically, Boone argues that his incarceration in 1982 was not the result of his parole revoca- tion, but was the result of his theft conviction. According to Boone, his parole revocation was a mere accounting procedure as he could _________________________________________________________________ *18 U.S.C.A. § 922(g) (West Supp. 1996). 2 not be incarcerated on the theft charge and on parole for armed rob- bery at the same time. Thus, Boone asserts that his period of incarcer- ation for his 1971 conviction falls outside the fifteen-year period from his current offense. We find Boone's argument to be without merit. Boone was indeed incarcerated on the armed robbery sentence within fifteen years of November 1, 1994, the date he committed his current offense. Whether he served his sentences concurrently is immaterial. Because Boone was incarcerated on the 1971 robbery conviction within fifteen years of his current offense, the district court properly found Boone's 1971 conviction eligible for inclusion in cal- culating his criminal history and base offense level. Accordingly, we affirm Boone's conviction and sentence. We dis- pense 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 3