United States v. Christopher Deon Townsel

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: January 12, 2026
• Docket: 22-14118
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

USCA11 Case: 22-14118 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 01/12/2026 Page: 1 of 8

NOT FOR PUBLICATION

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 22-14118 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus

CHRISTOPHER DEON TOWNSEL, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 8:19-cr-00221-VMC-CPT-1 ____________________

Before ROSENBAUM, NEWSOM, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Christopher Townsel appeals his conviction and 180-month sentence of imprisonment for knowing possession of a firearm as a USCA11 Case: 22-14118 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 01/12/2026 Page: 2 of 8

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convicted felon. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The district court sen- tenced Townsel under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), after finding that he committed at least three predicate crimes on “occasions different from one another,” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). While this case was on appeal, though, the Supreme Court held that, because the determination that a defendant’s prior crimes were committed on different occasions “increase[s] the prescribed range of penalties to which a criminal defendant is exposed,” it “must be resolved by a unanimous jury beyond a reasonable doubt (or freely admitted in a guilty plea).” Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821, 834 (2024) (quotation marks omitted). The parties agree that the court erred under Erlinger by making the different-occa- sions finding at sentencing and that the error is not harmless, so we vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing. Still, we affirm Townsel’s convictions because his arguments that § 922(g)(1) is un- constitutional under the Commerce Clause and the Second Amendment are foreclosed by binding precedent. I. In November 2021, Townsel was charged by superseding in- dictment with one count of knowing possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e). He pled guilty without the benefit of a plea agreement. During the plea colloquy, the magistrate judge advised Townsel that he faced a 15-year mandatory minimum under § 924(e), as opposed to the ordinary 10-year statutory maximum USCA11 Case: 22-14118 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 01/12/2026 Page: 3 of 8

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for a § 922(g) offense. Even so, Townsel expressly admitted only the essential elements of § 922(g)(1). Townsel’s presentence investigation report (“PSR”) detailed his extensive criminal history and found that he was an armed ca- reer criminal subject to an enhanced sentence under the ACCA, § 924(e)(1). In particular, the PSR reported that Townsel had seven prior “serious drug offenses” committed on different occasions: (a) one conviction for sale of cocaine, committed on December 19, 1995; (b) one conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to sell, committed on May 1, 1998; and (c) five convictions for sale or delivery of cocaine, committed on dates from July 3, 2008, to July 16, 2008. Because of the ACCA enhancement, Townsel’s guideline range became 188 to 235 months, based on a total offense level of 31 and a criminal-history category of VI, and his statutory mini- mum became 15 years. Without the enhancement, the statutory maximum for Townsel’s offense was 10 years. See 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(2) (2018). 1 At sentencing, Townsel objected to the “underlying facts in the prior convictions” that were used to apply the ACCA. The court overruled the objections, agreeing with the government that the information in the PSR could be considered because it appeared to come from charging documents.

1 In 2022, after Townsel’s indictment, Congress increased the statutory maxi-

mum to 15 years for violations of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). See Bipartisan Safe Com- munities Act, Pub. L. No. 117-159, 136 Stat. 1313, at *1329 (June 25, 2022); see also 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(8). USCA11 Case: 22-14118 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 01/12/2026 Page: 4 of 8

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Townsel further objected that the indictment was incon- sistent with the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Wooden v. United States, 595 U.S. 360 (2022), because it failed to allege that he committed three “serious drug offenses or violent priors on differ- ent occasions.” He claimed it would violate his rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to sentence him under the ACCA “be- cause those elements weren’t proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, nor did [he] acquiesce to those facts in the change of plea.” The government agreed with Townsel that, under Wooden, whether past offenses occurred on different occasions was a fact that must be admitted by the defendant or proven beyond a rea- sonable doubt. So the government did not request the ACCA en- hancement. But the government noted that circuit precedent per- mitted the court to rely on Shepard documents 2 to make the differ- ent-occasions determination. The district court overruled Townsel’s objections and sen- tenced him to serve 180 months in prison, the minimum ACCA sentence. Townsel objected to the ACCA enhancement and the reasonableness of his sentence, and he now appeals. II.

2 In evaluating prior convictions, “[a] sentencing court may sometimes consult

‘a restricted set of materials,’ often called Shepard documents, that include ju- dicial records, plea agreements, and colloquies between a judge and the de- fendant.” Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821, 839 (2024); see Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 25–26 (2005). USCA11 Case: 22-14118 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 01/12/2026 Page: 5 of 8

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Townsel raises two challenges to his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). First, he argues that § 922(g)(1) is unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause on its face and as applied to his intra- state possession of a firearm. Second, he maintains that § 922(g)(1) is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment and the Su- preme Court’s decisions in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), and United States v. Rahimi, 602 U.S. 680 (2024). Because these arguments were raised for the first time on appeal, we review for plain error only. See United States v. Wright, 607 F.3d 708, 715 (11th Cir. 2010). In any case, binding circuit prec- edent forecloses Townsel’s arguments, as he concedes. See United States v. Archer, 531 F.3d 1347, 1352 (11th Cir. 2008) (“[A] prior panel’s holding is binding on all subsequent panels unless and until it is overruled or undermined to the point of abrogation by the Su- preme Court or by this court sitting en banc.”). First, we have repeatedly held that § 922(g) is a valid exercise of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause. See e.g., United States v. Edwards, 142 F.4th 1270, 1285 (11th Cir. 2025); Wright, 607 F.3d at 715–16; United States v. Scott, 263 F.3d 1270, 1273 (11th Cir. 2001); United States v. McAllister, 77 F.3d 387, 390 (11th Cir. 1996). And we have held that a conviction under § 922(g)(1) is constitu- tional “as long as the weapon in question has a ‘minimal nexus’ to interstate commerce.” Scott, 263 F.3d at 1274. That interstate nexus is met with evidence “that the firearm possessed traveled in interstate commerce.” Id. Townsel objects to this line of USCA11 Case: 22-14118 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 01/12/2026 Page: 6 of 8

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precedent, but he does not dispute that the firearm in this case was manufactured out of state and thus satisfied the minimal interstate nexus our precedent requires. See Wright, 607 F.3d at 715–16 (hold- ing that the nexus requirement was satisfied where the firearm was manufactured outside the state in which the offense took place). Second, we have held that neither Bruen nor Rahimi abro- gated our holding in United States v. Rozier, 598 F.3d 768, 770–71 (11th Cir. 2010), that § 922(g)(1) does not violate the Second Amendment. United States v. Dubois, 139 F.4th 887, 892–94 (11th Cir. 2025), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Dec. 1., 2025) (No. 25-6281). In Rozier, we held that “statutes disqualifying felons from pos- sessing a firearm under any and all circumstances do not offend the Second Amendment.” Rozier, 598 F.3d at 770–72. For these reasons, we affirm Townsel’s § 922(g) conviction. III. To trigger the ACCA enhancement, the defendant must have been convicted of three violent felonies or serious drug crimes “committed on occasions different from one another.” 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). In general, “deciding whether those past offenses oc- curred on three or more different occasions is a fact-laden task.” Erlinger v. United States, 602 U.S. 821, 834 (2024); see Wooden, 595 U.S. at 368–69. In Erlinger, the Supreme Court held that a defendant is “en- titled to have a jury resolve ACCA’s occasions inquiry unani- mously and beyond a reasonable doubt.” 602 U.S. at 835. Thus, “judicial factfinding by a preponderance of the evidence that a USCA11 Case: 22-14118 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 01/12/2026 Page: 7 of 8

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defendant has three ACCA predicate convictions committed on dif- ferent occasions violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process of law and the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee to a jury trial.” United States v. Rivers, 134 F.4th 1292, 1302 (11th Cir. 2025). Instead, “this finding must be made by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt or freely admitted by the defendant in a guilty plea.” Id. Still, Erlinger error is subject to review for harmlessness be- yond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 1305–06. Where the error has been properly preserved, “the government has the burden of proving that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Perez, 86 F.4th 1311, 1319–20 (11th Cir. 2023). The government concedes that Erlinger error occurred. It’s undisputed that Townsel was “entitled to have a jury resolve [the] ACCA’s occasions inquiry unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt.” Erlinger, 602 U.S. at 835. So the district court violated Townsel’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights by finding based on a preponderance of the evidence that he has three ACCA predicate convictions committed on different occasions. Rivers, 134 F.4th at 1302. That means the question is whether the Erlinger error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See id. And here, the gov- ernment has not met its burden to prove harmlessness. See Perez, 86 F.4th at 1319–20. In fact, it concedes that it cannot make that showing because there is “no record evidence that bears on the dif- ferent-occasions factors.” We agree. Townsel objected to the un- derlying facts of his alleged predicate convictions as alleged in the USCA11 Case: 22-14118 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 01/12/2026 Page: 8 of 8

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PSR, and the government did not offer any Shepard documents at sentencing to prove the contested facts. See United States v. Bennett, 472 F.3d 825, 832 (11th Cir. 2006) (“Where a defendant objects to the factual basis of his sentence, the government has the burden of establishing the disputed fact.”). Because the government has not shown that the Erlinger er- ror was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, we vacate Townsel’s sentence and remand for resentencing. See Rivers, 134 F.4th at 1307. As a result, we need not reach Townsel’s separate challenge to whether his Florida cocaine convictions qualify as serious drug offenses under the ACCA, nor do we resolve the parties’ dispute about the general scope of harmlessness review. AFFIRMED IN PART; VACATED and REMANDED IN PART.