United States v. Cruz-Gramajo

570 F.3d 1162, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 13828, 2009 WL 1813336
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJune 26, 2009
Docket19-16122
StatusPublished
Cited by69 cases

This text of 570 F.3d 1162 (United States v. Cruz-Gramajo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Cruz-Gramajo, 570 F.3d 1162, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 13828, 2009 WL 1813336 (9th Cir. 2009).

Opinions

Opinion by Judge HALL; Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge PREGERSON.

HALL, Circuit Judge:

These consolidated cases concern the Sentencing Guidelines applicable to illegal reentry into the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326. The facts in each case are similar. Defendants are foreign citizens who were deported and then returned to this country without permission. After their illegal reentries—but before immigration authorities discovered them—Defendants committed and were convicted for various state law offenses, including burglary, driving under the influence, and evading police. At sentencing for their § 1326 offenses, the district courts held that Defendants’ intervening state law crimes constituted “criminal history” for purposes of calculating their Guidelines ranges.

Defendants attack these holdings. They note that the Guidelines exclude from “criminal history” acts that are del fined as “relevant conduct” to the conviction offense. Relevant conduct, they argue, includes conduct occurring “during” the conviction offense. Illegal reentry is a continuing offense that lasts from reentry until the violator is found by immigration authorities. Therefore, Defendants argue, the state law crimes they committed after returning to this country were still “during” their § 1326 offenses and thus do not constitute “criminal history.” Defendants’ argument ignores the context, structure and purpose of the Guidelines. We affirm the district courts’ decisions to include Defendants’ intervening state law crimes in the criminal history calculation.

[1165]*1165Defendants Gustavo Cruz-Gramajo (“Cruz-Gramajo”) and Ray Aguilar-Rodriguez (“Aguilar-Rodriguez”) raise an additional issue. In addition to calculating criminal history points for the intervening crimes themselves, the district courts gave them points for violating § 1326 while under a criminal justice sentence. CruzGramajo and Aguilar-Rodriguez argue these rulings were erroneous, because the sentences at issue were for.crimes they committed after illegally returning. We affirm the district court’s ruling as to Aguilar-Rodriguez, and need not decide the issue raised by Cruz-Gramajo, as any potential error is harmless.

I. Background

A. Cruz-Gramajo

Cruz-Gramajo is a citizen of Mexico. In January 2000, he was convicted of possessing marijuana with intent to sell, in violation of Cal. Health, & Safety Code § 11359. After serving prison time for the drug offense, Cruz-Gramajo was deported in April 2003 and then again in September 2004. Cruz-Gramajo returned yet again, apparently at some point in 2006. In March 2006, he committed grand theft and burglary, in violation of CaLPenal Code §§ 487 and 459, respectively. For each offense, Cruz-Gramajo was sentenced to approximately one year in jail and three years probation. On February 23, 2007, while still incarcerated in Los Angeles County Jail, Cruz-Gramajo came to the attention of immigration officials. He was then charged with being an alien found in the United States after having been deported, in violation of § 1326.1 The district court found Cruz-Gramajo guilty after a one-day bench trial.

At sentencing, and over Cruz-Gramajo’s objection, the district court held that the grand theft and burglary convictions constituted “criminal history,” each resulting in two criminal history points pursuant to U.S.S.G. §§ 4Al.l(b) and 4A1.2(e)(2). Also over Cruz-Gramajo’s objection, the district court added two criminal history points under U.S.S.G. § 4Al.l(d) for committing the illegal reentry while under a criminal justice sentence. Together with the three criminal history points for the drug possession charge, the court found that Cruz-Gramajo had a total of nine criminal history points, which resulted in a criminal history category of IV. The court also calculated a total offense level of twenty-one (resulting from a base offense level of eight, a sixteen-level enhancement because the marijuana conviction was a drug trafficking offense, and a three-point reduction for acceptance of responsibility). This resulted in a Guidelines range of fifty-[1166]*1166seven to seventy-one months. The court imposed a fifty-seven-month sentence. ' ■

B. Aguilar-Rodriguez

Aguilar-Rodriguez also appeals his sentence for violating § 1326. A citizen of Mexico, Aguilar-Rodriguez was convicted on September 15, 1997, for possession of a controlled substance for sale in violation of Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11351(a). Aguilar-Rodriguez was deported from the United States in October 1998, and reentered on or about May 1, 2005. After he returned, Aguilar-Rodriguez was twice convicted for driving under the influence in violation of Cal. Vehicle Code § 23152(b), once in 2005 and again in 2007.2 Apparently due to the second DUI, Aguilar-Rodriguez was found in Los Angeles by immigration officials on or about July 10, 2007.

Aguilar-Rodriguez’s § 1326 case received “fast track” treatment, and his binding plea agreement was entered pursuant to Rule 11(c)(1)(C) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.3 The parties agreed to a sentence at the low end of the Guideline range, determined by an offense level of seventeen and the criminal history the district court calculated.

Over Aguilar-Rodriguez’s objection, the district court treated the DUIs as criminal history, each worth two criminal history points. Additionally, in a ruling that Aguilar-Rodriguez did not dispute below, the court added two criminal history points under U.S.S.G. § 4Al.l(d) on the ground that Aguilar-Rodriguez committed § 1326 offense while on probation for the DUI convictions. Together with five points that are not in dispute, the district court ruled that Aguilar-Rodriguez had eleven criminal history points, resulting in a criminal history category of V. This resulted in a Guideline range of forty-six to fifty-seven months. The district court sentenced Aguilar-Rodriguez to forty-six months in prison.

C. Pulido

Ernesto Pulido also appeals his § 1326 sentence. In February 2001, Pulido was convicted of cultivating marijuana in violation of Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11358. He was deported from the United States on or about March 2, 2006, and returned shortly thereafter. About three weeks later, on March 21, 2006, Pulido violated Cal. Vehicle Code § 2800.2 by evading a police officer during a traffic stop. Immigration officials became aware of Pulido that same day.

Pulido was charged with violating § 1326. Like Aguilar-Rodriguez, his case received “fast track” treatment, and he entered a binding plea, agreement under Rule 11(c)(1)(C) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The agreement stipulated that Pulido’s total offense level was [1167]*1167seventeen and provided that the appropriate sentence would be the low end of the Guidelines range in light of the criminal history calculated by the district court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
570 F.3d 1162, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 13828, 2009 WL 1813336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-cruz-gramajo-ca9-2009.