United States v. Quinones-Mondragon

* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that
this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except
under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR. R. 47.5.4.
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 00-40738
Conference Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
ALFREDO QUINONES-MONDRAGON,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
USDC No. B-00-CR-104-1
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February 15, 2001
Before SMITH, BARKSDALE, and EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Alfredo Quinones-Mondragon (Quinones) appeals his guilty-
plea conviction and sentence for illegal reentry after
deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(2). Quinones
argues that the indictment was deficient for failing to allege
his prior felony conviction as an element of the offense. Thus,
he contends that he was improperly sentenced based on this prior
conviction. Quinones concedes that this argument is foreclosed
by the Supreme Court’s decision in Almendarez-Torres v. United
States, 523 U.S. 224 (1998), and raises it solely to preserve

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No. 00-40738
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Supreme Court review. As we recently noted, the Supreme Court
expressly declined to overrule Almendarez-Torres in Apprendi v.
New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000), thus we are bound to follow this
precedent. See United States v. Dabeit, 231 F.3d 979, 984 (5th
Cir. 2000), petition for cert. filed, (U.S. Jan. 26, 2001)(No.
00-8299).
AFFIRMED.

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