United States v. Eddie Lee Shular

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Decided: September 5, 2018
• Docket: 18-10234
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Case: 18-10234 Date Filed: 09/05/2018 Page: 1 of 3

[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________

No. 18-10234 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________

D.C. Docket No. 4:17-cr-00037-MW-CAS-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

EDDIE LEE SHULAR,

Defendant-Appellant.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida ________________________

(September 5, 2018)

Before MARCUS, WILSON, and HULL, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: Case: 18-10234 Date Filed: 09/05/2018 Page: 2 of 3

Eddie Shular appeals his 180-month sentence, imposed under the Armed

Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), after he pled guilty to

possession with the intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base, in violation of 21

U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(C), and being a felon in possession of a firearm, in

violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(e). On appeal, Shular argues that the

district court erred in determining that his Florida prior drug convictions qualified

as predicate ACCA felonies. Specifically, he maintains that our decision in United

States v. Smith, 775 F.3d 1262 (11th Cir. 2014), is incorrect, and that his

convictions under Fla. Stat. § 893.13 are not qualifying “serious drug offenses”

under the ACCA because the Florida statute lacks a mens rea requirement.

We review de novo whether a prior conviction is a predicate offense within

the meaning of the ACCA. United States v. Robinson, 583 F.3d 1292, 1294 (11th

Cir. 2009) (per curiam). But this Circuit has a strong prior panel precedent rule,

which mandates that “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

Supreme Court or by this court sitting en banc.” United States v. Archer, 531 F.3d

1347, 1352 (11th Cir. 2008).

2 Case: 18-10234 Date Filed: 09/05/2018 Page: 3 of 3

The appellant does not make any arguments in his initial brief, apart from

those alleging that our decision in Smith, 775 F.3d at 1262, is incorrect.1 We may

not deviate from Smith’s holding, see Archer, 531 F.3d at 1352, so we affirm.

AFFIRMED.

1 He tacitly acknowledges that we must affirm, by noting that he makes his argument “[i]n the interest of preserving the issue for potential en banc or Supreme Court review.” Blue Br. at 8. 3