United States v. Gabriel A. Nabejar

United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
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No. 06-3389
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United States of America, *
*
Appellee, *
* Appeal from the United States
v. * District Court for the
* Eastern District of Arkansas.
Christopher Adrian Jones, *
* [UNPUBLISHED]
Appellant. *
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Submitted: November 20, 2007
Filed: December 4, 2007
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Before BYE, RILEY, and MELLOY, Circuit Judges.
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PER CURIAM.
The panel in this case directed supplemental briefing from the parties on the
issue of whether the predicate felony offenses used to impose a mandatory life
sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c) constituted three separate serious violent felonies.
The parties have filed supplemental briefs. The government now concedes that 18
U.S.C. § 3559(c)(3)(A) precludes the use of the robbery convictions previously relied
upon to impose the mandatory life sentence. The government also concedes that the
use of the predicate offenses to impose a life sentence constitutes clear error and asks
that the matter be remanded for resentencing without the mandatory life sentence.

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1We also express no opinion as to whether the recent amendments to the federal
sentencing guidelines dealing with separate sentences under U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2 has any
applicability to this case.
-2-
The sentence in this case is reversed and the matter is remanded to the district
court for resentencing without the imposition of a mandatory life sentence under 18
U.S.C. § 3559(c). Based on the government’s concession that the robbery convictions
are not valid predicate offenses for purposes of the imposition of a life sentence, the
court expresses no opinion as to whether each of the offenses qualifies as separate
convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c)(1)(B). Likewise, the court expresses no
opinion as to the ultimate sentence to be imposed in this case, and no opinion as to
whether the defendant qualifies as a career offender under the federal sentencing
guidelines.1
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