United States v. Cortez-Ruiz

225 F. Supp. 3d 1093, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167789, 2016 WL 7034057
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedDecember 2, 2016
DocketCase No. 15-CR-00114-LHK
StatusPublished

This text of 225 F. Supp. 3d 1093 (United States v. Cortez-Ruiz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Cortez-Ruiz, 225 F. Supp. 3d 1093, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167789, 2016 WL 7034057 (N.D. Cal. 2016).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS INDICTMENT

LUCY H. KOH, United States District Judge

Defendant Jorge Cortez-Ruiz (“Defendant”) filed a Motion to Dismiss Indictment Due to Unlawful Deportation on September 13, 2016. ECF No. 23 (“Mot.”). In the motion, Defendant seeks to dismiss his indictment for illegal reentry on the ground that the deportation on which the indictment for illegal reentry was based was invalid. On October 11, 2016, the Government filed an Opposition to Defendant’s motion. ECF No. 26. (“Opp.”). On October 21, 2016, Defendant filed a Reply to the Government’s Opposition. ECF No. 29 (“Reply”). On November 9, 2016, the Court held a hearing on Defendant’s motion and ordered supplemental briefing. The Government filed a supplemental brief on November 11, 2016. ECF No. 31. Defendant filed a response on November 15, 2016. ECF No. 32. The Government filed a Notice of Errata to its supplemental brief on November 15, 2016, ECF No. 33. The parties argued the motion further at the November 30, 2016 status conference.

For the reasons described below, Defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment is GRANTED.

1. BACKGROUND

Defendant entered the United States from Mexico to join his parents in 1998, when he was eleven or twelve years old. Declaration of Jorge Cortez-Ruiz (“Cortez-Ruiz Decl.”), Exhibit A, ¶ 1. When Defendant entered the United States, he was not admitted or paroled after inspection. See Notice of Intent to Issue a Final Administrative Removal Order (“Notice of Intent”), Exhibit G, at 1. In November 2007, when Defendant was 18 years old, Defendant was arrested in Reno, Nevada on a charge of burglary. Information, Exhibit C, at 1. In January 2008, Defendant pleaded guilty to burglary in violation of Nevada Revised Statute § 202.060 and was convicted. Judgment, ECF No. 23-1 at 12. Defendant was sentenced to 12-30 months in prison, but the sentence was suspended in favor of up to 24 months of probation. Id.

In November 2007, soon after his arrest for burglary, Defendant was interviewed by immigration officers. Cortez-Ruiz Decl. at 2. At some point after that interview, Defendant was placed in administrative removal proceedings for having committed an “aggravated felony.” Notice of Intent at 2. In January 2008, after Defendant’s conviction, Defendant was taken to an immigration facility. Cortez-Ruiz Decl. at 2. On [1096]*1096January 7, 2008, an immigration officer issued a “Notice of Intent to Issue a Final Administrative Removal Order” (“Notice of Intent”), which stated that Defendant was “deportable under ... 8 U.S.C. [§ ] 1227(a)(2)(A)(iii), as amended, because [he] ha[d] been convicted of an aggravated felony as defined in ... 8 U.S.C. [§ ] 1101(a)(43)(G).” Notice of Intent at 1. The Notice of Intent also stated that because of Defendant’s conviction for an aggravated felony, Defendant was “amenable to administrative removal proceedings” under 8 U.S.C. § 1228(b) and would be deported “without a hearing before an Immigration Judge.” Id.

Two hours later on the same day, January 9, 2008, an immigration official signed a “Final Administrative Removal Order” (“Final Order”). This Final Order stated that because Defendant had been convicted of an aggravated felony, Defendant was “ineligible for any relief from removal that the Secretary of Homeland Security may grant in an exercise of discretion.” Defendant was then removed to Mexico three days later on January 12, 2008, Warrant of Removal, Exhibit 1.

In January 2015, Defendant was found in Santa Cruz, California, after' having reentered the United States without permission. Defendant was then subsequently indicted in the instant case for illegal reentry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A. Motion to Dismiss an Indictment

Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3)(B)(v), a defendant may move to dismiss an indictment on the ground that the indictment “fail[s] to state an offense.” In considering a motion to dismiss an indictment, a court must accept the allegations in the indictment as true and “analyz[e] whether a cognizable offense has been charged.” United States v. Boren, 278 F.3d 911, 914 (9th Cir. 2002). “In ruling on a pre-trial motion to dismiss an indictment for failure to state an offense, the district court is bound by the four corners of the indictment.” Id. A motion to dismiss an indictment can be determined before trial “if it involves questions of law rather than fact.” United States v. Shortt, Accountancy Corp., 785 F.2d 1448, 1452 (9th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1007, 106 S.Ct. 3301, 92 L.Ed.2d 715 (1986).

B. Collateral Attack on a Deportation

“For a defendant to be convicted of illegal reentry under 8 U.S.C. § 1326, the Government must establish that the defendant left the United States under order of exclusion, deportation, or removal, and then illegally reentered.” United States v. Raya-Vaca, 771 F.3d 1195, 1201 (9th Cir. 2014) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). “A defendant charged under § 1326 has a due process right to collaterally attack his removal order because the removal order serves as a predicate element of his conviction.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

To demonstrate that a prior deportation cannot serve as the basis of an indictment for illegal reentry, a defendant “must demonstrate that (1) he exhausted the administrative remedies available for seeking relief from the predicate removal order; (2) the deportation proceedings ‘improperly deprived [him] of the opportunity for judicial review1; and (3) the removal order was ‘fundamentally unfair.’ ” Raya-Vaca, 771 F.3d at 1201 (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d)) (brackets in original). “To satisfy the third prong—that the order was fundamentally unfair—the defendant bears the burden of establishing both that the [1097]*1097deportation proceeding violated his due process rights and that the violation caused prejudice.” Id, (internal quotation marks, citation, and brackets omitted).

III. DISCUSSION

Defendant argues that his 2008 deportation cannot serve as the predicate for an illegal reentry indictment because the deportation was based on an immigration officer’s erroneous determination that Defendant had committed an aggravated felo-* ny. The Court first considers whether the immigration official’s determination that Defendant had committed an aggravated felony was erroneous and concludes that it was.

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Bluebook (online)
225 F. Supp. 3d 1093, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167789, 2016 WL 7034057, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-cortez-ruiz-cand-2016.