United States v. Fields

236 F. App'x 865

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: June 6, 2007
• Docket: 06-4582
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Patrick Joseph Fields entered a conditional plea of guilty to one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2) (2000), reserving the right to challenge the district court’s denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment. Fields appeals, contending that his predicate state conviction did not satisfy § 922(g)(1) as a matter of law. Finding no error, we affirm.

Fields asserts that, under North Carolina’s structured sentencing scheme, his maximum sentence was less than twelve months because no aggravating factors were either admitted by him or found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. However, as Fields concedes, his argument is foreclosed by United States v. Harp, 406 F.3d 242, 246-47 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 546 U.S. 919, 126 S.Ct. 297, 163 L.Ed.2d 259 (2005). * Thus, because it is undisputed that a sentence of over twelve months could be imposed on a defendant convicted of possession of cocaine in North Carolina, the district court properly considered Fields’ prior conviction as a predicate felony for purposes of § 922(g)(1).

Accordingly, we affirm Fields’ conviction. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials be fore the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED.

* Fields urges us to reexamine Harp in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Cunningham v. California, - U.S. -, 127 S.Ct. 856, 860, 166 L.Ed.2d 856 (2007) (holding that California's determinate sentencing law violated Sixth Amendment by "assignfing] to the trial judge, not to the jury, authority to find the facts that expose a defendant to an elevated 'upper term’ sentence"). However, "a panel of this court cannot overrule, explicitly or implicitly, the precedent set by a prior panel of this court. Only the Supreme Court or this court sitting en banc can do that." Scotts Co. v. United Indus. Corp., 315 F.3d 264, 271-72 n. 2 (4th Cir. 2002) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).