US v. Deante Bank

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:15-cr-00023-CCE-1 Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999856046].. [15-4629]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-4629

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
DEANTE LAMONT BANKS,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Catherine C. Eagles,
District Judge. (1:15-cr-00023-CCE-1)

Submitted:

May 24, 2016

Decided:

June 16, 2016

Before AGEE, FLOYD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Todd A. Smith, LAW OFFICE OF TODD ALLEN SMITH, Graham, North
Carolina, for Appellant.
Ripley Rand, United States Attorney,
Terry M. Meinecke, Assistant United States Attorney, WinstonSalem, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Deante Lamont Banks appeals his conviction following his
guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in
violation

of

18

U.S.C.

§§ 922(g)(1),

924(a)(2)

(2012).

Two

prior North Carolina convictions served as predicate felonies
for purposes of § 922(g)(1): possession of cocaine, for which
the

state

court

imprisonment,

sentenced

and

Banks

possession

of

to
a

6

to

17

months

of

schedule

II

controlled

substance, for which the state court sentenced him to 5 to 15
months

of

imprisonment.

On

appeal,

Banks

asserts

that

the

offenses were not felonies because neither exposed him to an
active prison term of more than 12 months.

We affirm.

In United States v. Barlow, 811 F.3d 133 (4th Cir. 2015),
we addressed the impact of the Justice Reinvestment Act of 2011
(“JRA”),

2011

N.C.

Sess.

Structured Sentencing Act.

Laws

192,

on

the

North

Carolina

“[T]he Structured Sentencing Act and

its statutory tables determine if a crime is punishable by a
term of imprisonment of more than one year.”

Id. at 137; see

United States v. Simmons, 649 F.3d 237, 240, 249-50 (4th Cir.
2011) (en banc).
supervision

for

“[T]he [JRA] mandates terms of post-release
all

convicted

sentences of life without parole.”

felons

except

those

serving

Barlow, 811 F.3d at 137.

In

Banks’ case, the JRA required him to serve 9 months of his 6-to17-month and 5-to-15-month sentences on postrelease supervision.
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We

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prior

reiterated
term

of

in

Barlow

imprisonment

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that,

in

qualifies

determining
as

a

whether

felony,

a

Simmons

requires us to “ask only what term of imprisonment the defendant
was exposed to for his conviction, not the most likely duration
of his imprisonment.”

Id. at 140.

renders

supervision

post-release

We held that “state law
part

of

the

term

of

imprisonment,” id., such that “all North Carolina felonies now
qualify as federal predicate felonies,” id. at 137.
Thus,

as

forecloses

his

Banks
appeal.

court’s judgment.
facts

and

materials

legal
before

acknowledges,
Accordingly,

our
we

decision
affirm

in

the

Barlow
district

We dispense with oral argument because the
contentions

are

adequately

this

and

argument

court

presented

would

not

in

the

aid

the

decisional process.
AFFIRMED

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