United States v. Angel Lomas-Flores

9 F. App'x 582

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

Angel Lomas-Flores pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the United States after deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). Generally, the statutory maximum sentence for this offense is two years. See id. If the alien was deported following a conviction for an aggravated felony, however, the statutory maximum sentence is twenty years. See id. § 1326(b)(2). Because Lomas-Flores had been deported after his conviction for an aggravated felony, the district court * sentenced him to seventy months in prison. Relying on Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), Lomas-Flores contends his felony conviction must be charged in the indictment because the conviction increases the statutory maximum penalty from two to twenty years. This contention is foreclosed by our decision in United States v. Raya-Ramirez, 244 F.3d 976, 977 (8th Cir. 2001). In Rayar-Ramirez, we held Apprendi did not overrule Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 226, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998) (§ 1326(b)(2) enhancement properly applied to defendant who pleaded guilty to violating § 1326(a), even though the indictment did not allege the defendant’s earlier aggravated felony convictions or mention § 1326(b)(2)). The district court thus properly applied the enhancement in Lo-mas-Flores’s case, and we affirm his sentence.

* The Honorable Paul A. Magnuson, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.