OPINION OF THE COURT
Rоdrigo Sanchez-Gonzalez was sentenced to 324 months in prison and ten years of supervised release for cocaine conspiracy and possession convictions. We consider whether his ten-year term of supervised releasе violates
Apprendi v. New
Jersey,
I. Factual and Procedural History
Sanchez-Gonzalez was arrested on August 27, 1998, for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846, and possession of cocaine, including aiding and abetting the possession of cocaine, with intent to distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. 2 The indictment charged that “over 150 kilograms of cocaine” were involved in the offenses. At trial, the judge gave the following jury instruction regarding drug quantity:
Throughout the indictment, it is alleged that particular amounts or quantities of cocaine were involved. The evidence in the case need not establish the amount or quantity of cocaine alleged in the indictment, but only that there was, in fact, a measurable amount of cocaine involved in the act as charged in the indictment.
The jury convicted Sanchez-Gonzalez of all charges. At sentencing, the Court stated that “[i]n this case the Government proved at trial the defendant was involved in a conspiracy which distributed in excess of 150 kilograms of cocaine.” It then applied § 2Dl.l(c) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines for offenses involving more than 150 kilogrаms of cocaine, which indicated a total offense level of thirty-eight. The Court sentenced Sanchez-Gonzalez to 324 months imprisonment and ten years of supervised release. 3 Sanchez-Gonzalez did not object specifically to the Court’s failure to submit the drug quantity evidence to the jury, and he did not object that his supervised release term exceeded the statutory maximum.
*565 II. Discussion
A. Apprendi
Sanchez-Gonzalez argues that his sentence violates
Apprendi
because the issue of drug quantity was not submitted to the jury and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. As noted abоve,
Apprendi
established that, “[ojther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Id.
at 490,
The relevant drug statute, 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1), contains three tiers of penalties that vary with drug quantity. A defendant who (like Sanchez-Gonzalez) has a prior felony drug conviction can receive between twenty years and life imprisonment, and at least ten years of supervised release, if convicted of possessing five kilograms or more of cocaine, § 841(b)(1)(A); between ten years and life imprisonment, and at least eight years of supervised release, if convicted of possessing five hundred grams or more of cocaine, § 841(b)(1)(B); and up to thirty years imprisonment, and at least six' years of supervised release, if convicted of possessing an unspecified quantity of cocaine, § 841(b)(1)(C). A defendant as to whom drug quantity has not been found by a jury beyond a reasonable-doubt should be sentenced under § 841(b)(1)(C), because only that section does not base the sentence on drug quantity.
See Apprendi,
Sanchez-Gonzalez’s sentence did not exceed the statutory maximum imposed by § 841(b)(1)(C). His 324-month prison term is less than thirty years or 360 months. Likewise, the ten-year term of supervised release to which the Court sentenced him obviously satisfies the statutory minimum of “at least 6 years.”
Sanchez-Gonzalez asserts, however, that the ten-yеar supervised release'term exceeds the maximum contained in another federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3583. That statute limits the maximum term of supervised release from one to five years for varying classes of felonies, “[ejxcept as otherwise рrovided.” § 3583(b). Sanchez-Gonzalez was convicted of a Class B felony, for which § 3583(b)(1) lists a maximum supervised release term of five years. 5 He thus argues that the District Court violated Apprendi when it sentenced him to a ten-year term of supervised release without a jury determination on drug quantity.
The Court of Apрeals for the Fifth Circuit agrees with Sanchez-Gonzalez’s view that § 3583 imposes an upper limit on supervised release terms in some cases under § 841. In
United States v. Kelly,
In
Kelly,
the minimum term imposed under § 841 matched, but did not exceed, the maximum permitted by § 3583. In a subsequent Fifth Circuit case,
United States v. Cooper,
As have several other circuit courts, we reject the Fifth Circuit’s view that § 3583 ever limits the term of supervised release in cases under § 841. Our reasons are not complicated. The plain mеaning of § 3583 is that it
always
yields to other statutes, such as § 841, that specifically provide terms of supervised release. Any other reading fails to give full effect to the “[e]x-cept as otherwise provided” carveout in § 3583. Section 841(b) does “otherwise provide” and therefore trumps the default maximum terms of supervised release provided in 18 U.S.C. § 3583.
See United States v. Sanchez,
The legislative histories of § 841 and § 3583 support our interpretation. As other circuit courts have pointed out, Congress added the phrase “[ejxcept as оtherwise provided” to § 3583 at the same time as it wrote the minimum terms of supervised release into § 841. This simultaneity suggests that Congress intended to exempt drug offenses from the otherwise applicable maximum terms of supervised release imposed by § 3583.
See Sanchez,
*567 We сonclude that § 3583 imposes no limits on the terms of supervised release available under § 841. Section 841(b)(1)(C) permits a defendant with a prior drug felony to receive a sentence of up to thirty years imprisonment and any amount of supervised release greater than six years. Sanchez-Gonzalez’s sentence fell within this range. Therefore, he cannot assert a viable argument under Ap-prendi.
B. Remaining Claims
Sanchez-Gonzalez’s remaining grounds for appeal all lack persuasive merit. We will discuss them only briefly.
1. Character Evidence and Evidence of Impoverishment
Sanchez-Gonzalez argues that the District Court abused its discretion by refusing to permit him to introduce character evidence to rebut the Government’s allegedly inflammatory opening statement and by refusing to permit him to introduce evidence of his imрoverishment to rebut the Government’s attempt to paint him as a “king-pin.” As to the character evidence, Sanchez-Gonzalez barely presents an argument in his brief. He makes a blanket assertion about inflammatory mischaraeterizations in the Government’s opening statement and then cites two cases. Moreover, he did not raise any objections about “inflammatory mischaracterizations” during the Government’s opening statement at trial and does not seem to have taken аny action to preserve the issue for appeal. We cannot conclude from this that the Court abused its discretion.
Likewise, Sanchez-Gonzalez does not explain why he should have been permitted to introduce evidence of imрoverishment. The District Court has discretion when determining relevancy and prejudice under Federal Rules of Evidence 401, 402, and 403, and it determined prior to trial that any evidence of Sanchez-Gonzalez’s impoverishment would be irrelevant. Because there does not appear to have been an abuse of discretion, we affirm the District Court’s evidentiary ruling.
2. Admission of Transcripts
Next, Sanchez-Gonzalez contends that the Court improperly admitted English language transcripts translated from taped Spanish languаge conversations as evidence over his objections that the transcripts were inaccurate. We disagree.
The District Court provided Sanchez-Gonzalez an opportunity to correct any transcript errors, and he made many corrections. In addition, the Court held a
Starks
hearing,
see United States v. Starks,
3. Jencks Act Materials
Sanchez-Gonzalez’s final argument is that the District Court erroneously disregarded his request fоr production of Jencks Act materials (prior statements made by Government witnesses). 18 U.S.C. § 3500. Based on the record and the briefs, the District Court did not deny Sanchez-Gonzalez access to Jencks Act material because Sanchez-Gonzalez did nоt make a
'prima facie
showing that such material existed.
See United States v. Smith,
:{i ;Jc sj: #
Sanchez-Gonzalez has not demonstrated that his sentence violates Apprendi, that the District Court еrred in its evidentiary rulings, or that the Government might have concealed Jencks Act materials. Thus, we affirm the District Court’s judgment.
Notes
. We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, which permits appeal from final decisions of the United States District Courts, аnd 18 U.S.C. § 3742, which permits appellate review of sentences imposed in violation of law or as a result of incorrect application of the sentencing guidelines.
. The indictment also sought forfeiture of the property and proceeds obtained from his crimes pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 853.
. The sentencing range for a total offense level of thirty-eight and Sanchez-Gonzalez's criminal history category, which is four, is between 324 and 405 months.
. In Vazquez, we held that where evidence of drug quantity is overwhelming and the defendant did not contest it at any stage of the proceedings, the failure to submit drug quantity to a juiy as required by Apprendi may not constitute plain error. We need not apply here the plain error analysis in Vazquez because this case does not come within Appren-di.
. Sanchez-Gonzalez’s felony falls under Class B because he faced a maximum prison term of twenty-five years or more. See 18 U.S.C. § 3559; 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C). • He describes it as a Class C felony, for which § 3583 permits no more than three years of supervised release, but the error does not affect our analysis because, either way, thе supervised release term listed in the statute is less than the term he received.
. We do not understand why Cooper, having decided to permit § 841(b)(1)(C) to trump § 3583(b)(2) on this issue, proceeded to uphold a five-year supervised release term when § 841(b)(1)(C) explicitly requires at least six years of supervised release for defendants with prior felony drug convictions.
. In Starks we listed seven criteria for the admission of sound recordings:
(1) That the recording device was capable of taking the conversation now offered in evidence.
(2) That thе operator of the device was competent to operate the device.
(3) That the recording is authentic and correct.
(4) That changes, additions or deletions have not been made in the recording.
(5) That the recording had been preserved in a manner that is shown to the court.
(6) That the speakers are identified.
(7) That the conversation elicited was made voluntarily and in good faith, without any kind of inducement.
Starks,