Renard Cortez Murray v. United States

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: May 1, 2020
• Docket: 19-14759
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Case: 19-14759 Date Filed: 05/01/2020 Page: 1 of 2

[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________

No. 19-14759 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________

D.C. Docket Nos. 2:16-cv-00506-MHT-SRW, 2:02-cr-00201-MHT-SRW-1

RENARD CORTEZ MURRAY,

Petitioner-Appellant,

versus

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Respondent-Appellee.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama ________________________

(May 1, 2020)

Before WILSON, WILLIAM PRYOR and LAGOA, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Renard Murray appeals the denial of his motion to vacate his sentence, 28

U.S.C. § 2255, for aiding and abetting another to possess a firearm during a bank Case: 19-14759 Date Filed: 05/01/2020 Page: 2 of 2

robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The district court granted a certificate of appealability

for whether Murray’s conviction based on a guilty plea is constitutional in the light

of the decisions in United States v. Davis, 139 S. Ct. 2319 (2019), and Johnson v.

United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015). Murray contends that the predicate offense

to which he pleaded guilty, aiding and abetting an armed bank robbery, is not a

“crime of violence” under § 924(c)(3). Our precedents hold otherwise. We affirm.

In an appeal of a denial of a motion to vacate, we review questions of law de

novo and factual findings for clear error. Lynn v. United States, 365 F.3d 1225,

1232 (11th Cir. 2004). We may affirm for any reason supported by the record.

Castillo v. United States, 816 F.3d 1300, 1303 (11th Cir. 2016).

As Murray concedes, our precedents control this appeal. Although in Davis

the Supreme Court held that the residual clause of section 924(c)(3)(B) is

unconstitutionally vague, 139 S. Ct. at 2323, 2336, our precedents establish that

aiding and abetting a Hobbs Act robbery is categorically a crime of violence under

the elements clause of section 924(c)(3)(A). In re Sams, 830 F.3d 1234, 1239 (11th

Cir. 2016); In re Colon, 826 F.3d 1301, 1305 (11th Cir. 2016). So we affirm the

denial of Murray’s motion to vacate.

AFFIRMED.