United States v. Alvin Lee McCary

── United States v. Alvin Lee McCary ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: May 05, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 24-13638 Document: 30-1 Date Filed: 05/05/2026 Page: 1 of 8 NOT FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 24-13638 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ALVIN LEE MCCARY, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 2:21-cr-00489-MHT-JTA-1 ____________________ Before LUCK, LAGOA, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Alvin McCary appeals his conviction and 300-month sen- tence for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. McCary ar- gues that the district court erred in three ways. First, he argues that USCA11 Case: 24-13638 Document: 30-1 Date Filed: 05/05/2026 Page: 2 of 8 2 Opinion of the Court 24-13638 the district court erred by sentencing him as an armed career crim- inal. Second, he contests the district court’s denial of his motion for a judgment of acquittal. And third, he contends that his conviction was unconstitutional in light of recent Supreme Court precedent. After careful review, we reject each of McCary’s challenges and af- firm his conviction and sentence. I. In July 2020, Chilton County Sheriff’s Office personnel re- sponded to a call, where they found Keith Baker suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Baker survived the incident and in- formed the police that Alvin McCary was the shooter. The police quickly located and arrested McCary, and upon further investiga- tion, they discovered a 12-gauge shotgun, loaded with a similar shell to the ones recovered at the scene of the shooting, ditched in a well on McCary’s property. The government charged McCary with one count of pos- sessing a firearm as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). At trial, an ATF expert confirmed that the firearm re- covered from McCary’s well was manufactured in Brazil. A proba- tion officer testified that McCary had prior felony convictions re- lated to a 2002 bank robbery, a 1999 aggravated battery with a fire- arm, and a 1994 aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. And a fingerprint analyst confirmed that McCary’s fingerprints matched those of the person who was convicted of each of those prior felo- nies. USCA11 Case: 24-13638 Document: 30-1 Date Filed: 05/05/2026 Page: 3 of 8 24-13638 Opinion of the Court 3 Once the government rested its case, McCary moved for a judgment of acquittal, which the district court denied. Following the presentation of his defense, McCary renewed his motion for a judgment of acquittal, which the district court again denied. The jury convicted McCary of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The jury further found that McCary had been convicted of the three prior felonies and that each of those felonies occurred on different occa- sions. Prior to sentencing, McCary objected to the consideration of his 1999 aggravated battery conviction for the purpose of a sen- tencing enhancement under the A