In late June of 1986, a man walked into the Oak Park, Illinois, Police Department and told Officer Patrick Lawton that one Stanley Henry had cocaine for sale. The officer asked the man if he would be willing to make a controlled purchase of cocaine from Henry, and the informant agreed. The deal never went down because on the day of the buy, Henry was not at home. On July 8, 1986, the same citizen informant returned and told Lawton and Officer Leonard Jorgensen he had been a guest in Apartment J-l, 939 West Washington Boulevard in Oak Park, Illinois, and that the residence belonged to Stanley Henry. After giving the officers vital information about himself, including his birth date and phone number, the man stated that he had known Henry for a year and a half, and that he had heard from a third party that Henry had spent time in the penitentiary for armed robbery. The informant related that he had been in Henry’s apartment on at least ten prior occasions and had seen guns. He described a July 4, 1986, visit during which Henry pointed a loaded, chrome-plated revolver at him.
The officers attempted to verify as much as possible the information supplied by the informant. First, they ran criminal history checks. The check on the informant revealed two arrests, one a traffic violation, and the other for misdemeanor theft. Neither resulted in a conviction. The criminal history check on Henry showed that he had an extensive criminal background, including a conviction for armed robbery in 1978. The officers obtained a Chicago arrest photo of Henry from police files. The officers also called the Illinois Bell Telephone Company to verify that a Stanley Henry lived at 939 W. Washington in Oak Park, Illinois. They were told that the number was unpublished. Officer Jorgensen then went to the Washington Street address and personally checked the name listed on the mail box for Apartment J-l. It read “Stanley Henry.”
When Jorgensen returned to the police station, he and Lawton completed a complaint for a search warrant. The officеrs then arranged another meeting with the citizen informant. They showed him a photo spread consisting of Henry’s police file photo and pictures of other individuals who resembled Henry. The informant immediately picked out Henry’s photograph and correctly identified it. The informant also verified the information contained in the search warrant complaint. The officers *556 marched the complaint for the search warrant over to the Fourth District State’s Attorney’s Office, where it was aрproved. They then took the complaint to Circuit Court Judge John M. Sorrentino, who issued a search warrant. On July 11, 1986, Lawton and Jorgensen, along with several other police officers, executed the warrant. The search of Henry’s apartment turned up two Smith and Wesson revolvers (one chrome-plated), a Beretta, a .357 Magnum, ammunition, four pieces of proof of residency, and a pair of handcuffs. The officers placed Henry under arrest.
In January 1988, a grand jury returned an indictment agаinst Henry, charging him under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), which makes it unlawful for a convicted felon to receive a firearm or ammunition that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce. A superseding indictment added a charge under 18 U.S.C. app. § 1202(a)(1), which mandates a minimum fifteen-year prison term (without parole) for any person who is convicted under section 922(g) after three previous convictions for robbery or burglary. Henry was convicted of robbery in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, four times: in 1970, 1973, 1975, and 1978. Prior to trial, the government notified Henry that it intended to prove these convictions for purposes of enhanced sentencing.
Henry filed a motion to quash the search warrant, suppress the evidence, and quash the arrest. Pursuant to
Franks v. Delaware,
In this appeal, Henry attacks several aspects of his conviction and sentence. His first contention revisits his argument that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash the search warrant, suppress the evidence, and quash the arrest. He asserts thаt the affidavit in support of the search warrant contained known falsehoods that were included intentionally or with a reckless disregard for the truth. In particular, Henry thinks it peculiar that the Oak Park police failed to follow up on the citizen informant’s tip that Henry was in possession of cocaine after the aborted controlled purchase. He also considers it odd that the informant waited four days to report the July 4 gun incident. He believes that these facts demonstrate that the information upon which the warrant was issued was unreliable and that the officers “figured a way to search [Henry’s apartment and] then prefabricated this so-called citizen informant and the information placed in the affidavit for a search warrant.” Appellant’s Brief at 16.
Henry has an almost insurmountable task before him. We will not overturn a trial court’s denial of a motion to suppress unless it is clearly erroneous.
Unit
*557
ed States v. McNeese,
We indicated in
United States v. A Residence Located at 218 3rd St.,
The citizen informant supplied the information contained in the affidavit. He told the police that a convicted felon named Stanley Henry lived at a particular address, that he possessed guns, and that he had pointed a loaded revolver at the informant. The police verified as much of this information as possible. The informant’s criminal check for convictions turned up clean. The officers confirmed Henry’s identity, address, and criminal background, including a 1978 conviction for armed robbery. Contrary to Henry’s assertions, the record establishes that these acts of verification were not a sham. Based on their independent corroboration, the officers believed that the facts supplied by the informant were a reliable indicator of criminal activity. This information provided the judge issuing the warrant with sufficient reason to conclude that a search would uncover evidence of a crime. In light of what the district court deemed the officers’ “appropriate professional manner,” Suppression Hearing Transcript at 77, the denial of Henry’s motions was not clearly erroneous. The affidavit provided a substantial basis to support the issuance of the search warrant based on probable cause. For the same reason, the trial court did not err in denying Henry’s post-trial motion for a new trial.
We also find no error in Henry’s twenty-year prison term. Henry claims that he should not have been sentenced pursuant to the Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984, originally codified at 18 U.S.C. app. § 1201 (“ACCA”), because he was charged and сonvicted pursuant to 18 U.S.C. app. § 1202(a). He argues that the ACCA establishes a separate crime of possession of a firearm by one who has three previous felony convictions and that he never was convicted of this separate, more serious offense. This appeal marks the first time
*558
that Henry has raised this argument. Arguments not made in the district court are waived on appeal absent a showing of plain error.
See
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b);
United States v. Smith,
Henry’s argument would fail even if it had been raised before this appeal. Section 1202(a) originally was enacted as Title VII of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. app. § 1202, and provides that any convicted felon who receives, possesses, or transports a firearm in commerce or affecting сommerce shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both. The ACCA added the following language to the end of section 1202(a):
In the case of a person who receives, possesses or transports in commerce or affecting commerce any firearm and who has three prior convictions by any court referred to in paragraph (1) of this subsection for robbery or burglary, or both, such person shall be fined not more than $25,000 and imprisoned not less than fifteen years, and, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the court shall not suspend the sentence of, or grant a probationary sentence to, such person with respect to the conviction under this subsection, and such person shall not be eligible for parole with respect to the sentence imposed under this subsection.
The statute was repealed effective 180 days after May 19, 1986. The substantive crime was incorporated into 18 U.S.C. § 922, and the enhancement provision was incorporated into 18 U.S.C. § 924 by the Firearms Owner’s Protection Act of 1986, Pub.L. No. 99-308, §§ 102(6), 104(a)(4) (100 Stat. 449, 452, 458).
Eight circuits (including ours) have held that the three additional convictions provision does not create a separate federal offense, but merely serves to enhance the penalty.
See generally, Note, The Armed Career Criminal Act: Sentence Enhancement Statute or New Offense?,
56 Ford-ham L.Rev. 1085 (1988). In
United States v. Lowe,
Continuing on the sentencing theme, Henry attacks the basis for his enhanced sentence: the convictions them
*559
selves. For a conviction to count for enhancement purposes, it must have been constitutionally obtained.
United States v. Gallman,
For our part, we start with the proposition that a guilty plea is voluntary “when it is not induced by threats or misrepresentаtions and the defendant is made aware of the direct consequences of the plea.”
Brady,
In accepting Henry’s 1973 and 1975 pleas, neither trial court admonished Henry as to all three of the fundamental rights particularized in
Boykin.
Nevertheless, the district court found that Henry’s pleas were “invulnerable to constitutional attack,”
Henry,
*560
Whatever shortcomings there were in Henry's plea proceedings were insufficient to result in a fundamental miscarriage of justice. First, regarding Henry’s 1973 plea, the transcript reveals that Henry was given a copy of the information charging him with robbery. The court explained both the charge and the potential penalty, and went through, as the district court noted, a “thorough” exposition of Henry’s rights.
Id.
at 1189. The court explained both the charge and the potential penalty. In addition, the court advised Henry of his constitutional rights, but failed to mention his privilege against self-incrimination. This omission was not fatal because the court advised Henry that, by pleading guilty, he was waiving his constitutional right to trial by jury, his right to confront and cross-examine witnesses, and his right to indictment by a grand jury. We held in
United States v. Dorszynski,
The transcript of Henry’s 1975 plea proceeding shows that the admonitions he was given, although not perfect, were undeniably adequate as well. The court receiving the plea explained the charge and the possible penalty to Henry. The court warned Henry that, by pleading guilty, he was giving up his right to trial and his right to confront and cross-examine witnesses. Henry acknowledged that he understood. In response to the court’s inquiry as to whether he had been threatened or given any promises to induce him to plead guilty, Henry responded “No.” The court found that Henry “has been duly warned of the consequences of his plea, and after having been so warned, persists.” Transcript of 1975 Plea Proceedings at 9. The factual basis for the plea was set forth on the record and Henry stipulated to it as true and accurate. After sentencing Henry, the court advised him of his right to withdraw his guilty plea within thirty days and go to trial. True, the court failed to admonish Henry as to his right to plead nоt guilty and the right to be free from compulsory self-incrimination. As in the case of the 1973 plea, however, the failure to follow Boykin to the letter by specifically admonishing Henry of these rights does not invalidate the plea. Moreover, as the district court noted, it would have been absurd to invalidate Henry’s guilty plea on the basis that he was unaware of his right to plead not guilty. He had to have been aware of that right because he was changing his plea from not guilty to guilty.
We note as well that both the 1973 and 1975 plea proceedings followed the requirements of the State of Illinois’ rule governing guilty pleas.
See
Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 110A, para. 402 (1970). As the district court noted, Rule 402 “closely parallels the United States Supreme Court’s proposed version of the federal rule.”
Henry,
As a last-ditch effort. Henry also raises the inevitable ineffective assistance of counsel claim. It, too, fails.
Strickland v. Washington,
Henry also claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with his 1973 and 1975 plea proceedings due to the fact that his attorneys had conflicts of interest by representing Henry’s codefendants. Joint representations are not
per se
unconstitutional.
See McCall,
For the above reasons, Stanley Henry’s conviction and sentence are hereby AFFIRMED.
