United States v. Alexander Vasquez-Garcia

449 F.3d 870, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 14179, 2006 WL 1563468
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided June 9, 2006·No. 05-2735·Published·Cited by 30 cases

Opinion

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Alexander Vasquez-Garcia pled guilty to illegal reentry after deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). In determining the advisory guideline sentence, the district court 1 applied a 16-level enhancement pursuant to USSG § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(iii), and then sentenced Vasquez-Garcia to 70 months’ imprisonment. Vasquez-Garcia appeals the sentence, and we affirm.

In February 2005, Vasquez-Garcia pleaded guilty to reentering the United States after previously having been removed. A presentence investigation report recommended that the court, in determining an advisory guideline sentence under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, apply a 16-level specific offense characteristic in addition to the base offense level, based on Vasquez-Gareia’s prior conviction in California state court for possession of a short barrel rifle. See USSG § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(iii). The guidelines call for the enhancement where a defendant was deported after a conviction for a felony that is a “firearms offense.” That term is defined to include an offense under state law that prohibits the possession of a firearm described in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(a), which includes a short barrel rifle. USSG § 2L1.2, comment. (n.1(B)(v)(II)). Vasquez-Garcia objected to the presentence report, claiming that although the charging document filed in California state court alleged that he possessed a short barrel rifle, he actually had possessed a .380 automatic pistol, and that a conviction for possession of a pistol is not a “firearms offense” within the meaning of § 2L1.2. In support of his factual assertion about the prior conviction, Vasquez-Garcia offered police reports from the incident resulting in the conviction.

At sentencing, the district court examined the record of the state court conviction to determine whether it should qualify *872 as a “firearms offense” under USSG § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(iii). The government presented evidence that in July 1998, California prosecutors filed an amended two-count information charging Vasquez-Garcia with (1) the discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, a serious felony under California law, and (2) the possession of a deadly weapon under California Penal Code § 12020(a). The California statute penalizes the manufacture, sale, or possession of various weapons, including “any short-barreled rifle.” CaLPenal Code § 12020(a) (West 1998). Count II of the information charged that the deadly weapon possessed by Vasquez-Gareia was a short barrel rifle. The government presented a record of Vasquez-Garcia’s guilty plea to Count II, in which he acknowledged that there was a factual basis for the plea and that he was pleading guilty to take advantage of a plea bargain. There is no record in the plea agreement of any agreed-upon facts or judicial fact-finding.

In determining whether to apply the enhancement, the district court noted that “the primary issue in this case is whether the police reports can be considered in determining whether ... a previous conviction qualifies as a firearms offense or a crime of violence under sentencing guideline 2L1.2.” (S. Tr. at 3). The court concluded, based on Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 125 S.Ct. 1254, 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005), that it should “look at what it is that the charging papers and judgment of conviction, or the plea and findings of the Court found, and that is it, you don’t go behind it into the police reports and other documents that might exist with regard to the case.” (S. Tr. at 4). Applying a categorical approach, the court determined that because the “Amended Information in the defendant’s California conviction indicated the defendant was in possession of a short-barreled rifle and that is clearly a firearms offense based on the definition at USSG § 2L1.2, ... the 16-level enhancement is applicable.” (Statement of Reasons at 3); (S. Tr. at 12).

We review the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its interpretation and application of the guidelines de novo. United States v. Montenegro-Recinos, 424 F.3d 715, 717 (8th Cir.2005). In Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990), and Shepard, 544 U.S. at 16-17, 125 S.Ct. 1254, the Supreme Court established a categorical approach concerning what evidence a court may consider in determining whether a defendant was convicted of “generic burglary” under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). Under this approach, the 'district court generally may look only to the fact of conviction and statutory definition of the prior offense. Taylor, 495 U.S. at 602, 110 S.Ct. 2143. When a statute criminalizes both conduct that would qualify a defendant for an enhancement and conduct that would not do so, the court may refer to the “terms of the charging document, the terms of a plea agreement or transcript of colloquy between judge and defendant in which the factual basis for the plea was confirmed by the defendant, or to some comparable judicial record of this information,” in order to determine whether the plea “ ‘necessarily rested” on facts equating to the qualifying offense. Shepard, 544 U.S. at 21, 26, 125 S.Ct. 1254 (quoting Taylor, 495 U.S. at 602, 110 S.Ct. 2143). We have employed a similar categorical approach to determine whether a defendant’s prior conviction was for a “crime of violence” under § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii), Montenegro-Recinos, 424 F.3d at 717, and Vasquez-Garcia does not suggest, as a general matter, that the categorical approach of Taylor and Shepard is inapplicable to determinations under § 2L1.2.

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United States v. Alexander Vasquez-Garcia, 449 F.3d 870, 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 14179, 2006 WL 1563468 (8th Cir. 2006).

449 F.3d 870 (United States v. Alexander Vasquez-Garcia) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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