United States v. Miles

Opinion

Case: 22-10932 Document: 115-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/26/2024

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

____________ United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit

No. 22-10932

FILED

April 26, 2024

____________

Lyle W. Cayce

United States of America, Clerk

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus

Joel Miles,

Defendant—Appellant.

______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas USDC No. 4:22-CR-140-1

______________________________

Before Richman, Chief Judge, and Oldham and Ramirez, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam:

Fort Worth police arrested Joel Miles after finding an unregistered short-barreled rifle in his car. Miles is a convicted felon, so federal prosecutors charged him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The parties then entered into a plea agreement by which the government agreed to dismiss the § 922(g)(1) charge. In exchange, Miles agreed to plead guilty to possessing an unregistered short-barreled rifle in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d). Miles also agreed to waive his right to appeal the § 5861(d)

Case: 22-10932 Document: 115-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/26/2024

No. 22-10932

conviction. * The district court accepted the plea agreement and imposed a 115-month sentence.

Miles now seeks to appeal his § 5861(d) conviction, even though knowingly and voluntarily waived the right to do so in his plea agreement. Miles contends that because short-barreled rifles are in common use, Congress cannot regulate them under the Second Amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022). And he alleges his appeal waiver was ineffective as to that claim because in his view, a defendant cannot waive the right to assert that his statute of conviction is unconstitutional.

Miles’ argument is foreclosed. See United States v. Portillo-Munoz, 643 F.3d 437, 442 (5th Cir. 2011) (enforcing an appeal waiver against a constitutional challenge to a statute of conviction); see also United States v. Ford, 688 F. App’x 309, 310–11 (5th Cir. 2017) (per curiam) (citing Portillo- Munoz for the proposition that constitutional claims “may be waived by a valid appeal waiver”); United States v. Caldwell, 38 F.4th 1161 (5th Cir. 2022) (per curiam) (holding defendants can waive the right to collaterally attack a conviction on constitutional grounds). Miles therefore waived the right to press his Second Amendment claim on appeal.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

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*

The waiver was subject to limited exceptions that Miles concedes are not relevant in this case.