United States v. Harris, No. 12-14482 (11th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his sentence after being convicted of three counts of Hobbs Act robbery, 18 U.S.C. 1951(a) and (b), and four other counts relating to his possession and use of firearms during those robberies. The court concluded that the district court did not commit error, much less plain error, in imposing a mandatory life sentence under 18 U.S.C. 3559(c) without any jury findings about the existence of defendant's prior convictions. Relying on the court's precedent in United States v. Holmes and United States v. Cespedes, the court rejected defendant's contention that the combination of section 3559(c) and 21 U.S.C. 851, which resulted in his mandatory life sentence, violated "the Nondelegation Doctrine, Separation of Powers principles, and the U.S. Constitution" by impermissibly giving the executive branch "the power to prosecute and the power to sentence." Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.
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