United States v. Vernon Webster

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• Decided: July 11, 2018
• Docket: 17-2758
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 17-2758 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Vernon Montrell Webster, also known as Webster Connell Spunky, Jr., also known as Tracy Connell Webster, Jr.

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa - Waterloo ____________

Submitted: June 11, 2018 Filed: July 11, 2018 [Unpublished] ____________

Before LOKEN, GRUENDER, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

Vernon Webster pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, see 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and he received an enhanced sentence pursuant to the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), see id. § 924(e). Webster now appeals his sentence, arguing that the district court1 erred in concluding that his three prior Wisconsin convictions for burglary of a building or dwelling qualify as violent felonies under the ACCA. See Wisc. Stat. § 943.10(1)(a), (2)(a) (1978). Before the district court, however, Webster acknowledged the controlling authority of United States v. Lamb, in which we held that an identical burglary conviction qualified as a violent felony. See 847 F.3d 928, 930 (8th Cir. 2017), cert. denied, 138 S. Ct. 1438 (2018). On appeal, Webster argues that Lamb was wrongly decided and that it should be overruled. However, “[i]t is a cardinal rule in our circuit that one panel is bound by the decision of a prior panel.” See United States v. Nelson, 589 F.3d 924, 925 (8th Cir. 2009) (per curiam). Thus, in light of our decision in Lamb, we conclude that the district court did not err in sentencing Webster as an armed career criminal.

Accordingly, we affirm Webster’s sentence. ______________________________

1 The Honorable Linda R. Reade, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa.

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