United States v. Gomez-Gomez

493 F.3d 562
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in United States v. Gomez-Gomez. Read the opinion of the Court — 547 F.3d 242
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided October 21, 2008·No. 05-41461·Published

Opinion

547 F.3d 242 (2008)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Jorge GOMEZ-GOMEZ, also known as Jose L. Lopez, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 05-41461.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

October 21, 2008.

*243 Tony Ray Roberts (argued), James Lee Turner and Renata Ann Gowie, Asst. U.S. Attys., Houston, TX, for U.S.

Marjorie A. Meyers, Fed. Pub. Def., Margaret Christina Ling (argued) and Laura Fletcher Leavitt, Asst. Fed. Pub. Defenders, Philip G. Gallagher, Houston, TX, for Defendant-Appellant.

Before JONES, Chief Judge, and REAVLEY, JOLLY, DAVIS, SMITH, WIENER, BARKSDALE, GARZA, BENAVIDES, STEWART, DENNIS, CLEMENT, PRADO, OWEN, ELROD, SOUTHWICK, and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.[1]

E. GRADY JOLLY and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges:

This case presents the question of whether a sex offense committed using constructive force, i.e., nonphysical force, may qualify as a "forcible sex offense" and thereby a "crime of violence" under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A). Jorge Gomez-Gomez appeals the district court's holding that his prior conviction under California's rape statute was a conviction for a crime of violence under § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A) because it was a forcible sex offense. A unanimous panel of this Court vacated Gomez-Gomez's sentence and remanded the case for resentencing, finding that Gomez-Gomez's prior rape conviction did not constitute a forcible sex offense because the use of physical force was not a required element under California's rape statute. 493 F.3d 562 (5th Cir.2007). We granted the Government's petition for rehearing en banc, 517 F.3d 730 (5th Cir.2008), and now AFFIRM Gomez-Gomez's sentence.

I.

In 1991 Gomez-Gomez pled guilty to violating California's rape statute, which *244 prohibits sexual intercourse "accomplished against a person's will by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the person of another." Cal.Penal Code § 261(a)(2) (1991). At the time of his plea, duress encompassed "a direct or implied threat of ... hardship, or retribution sufficient to coerce a reasonable person of ordinary susceptibilities."[2] Cal.Penal Code § 261(b) (1991).

In 2005 Gomez-Gomez was arrested for illegally reentering the United States. A jury convicted him, and the judge sentenced him to 100 months in prison, finding that Gomez-Gomez's 1991 conviction qualified as a prior conviction for a crime of violence under § 2L1.2 of the advisory Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Gomez-Gomez asks this Court to find that his 1991 offense was not a crime of violence. Although, post-Booker, the Sentencing Guidelines are advisory only, and an ultimate sentence is reviewed for reasonableness under an abuse-of-discretion standard, the district court must still properly calculate the guideline-sentencing range for use in deciding on the sentence to impose. Gall v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 586, 596, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007). In that respect, for a guidelines issue preserved in district court, its application of the guidelines is reviewed de novo; its factual findings, only for clear error. E.g., United States v. Cisneros-Gutierrez, 517 F.3d 751, 764 (5th Cir.2008); United States v. Villegas, 404 F.3d 355, 359 (5th Cir.2005).

II.

U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A) provides a sixteen-level enhancement under the Sentencing Guidelines for defendants convicted of unlawfully reentering the United States who have a prior conviction for a crime of violence. A crime of violence is defined as:

[A]ny of the following: murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, aggravated assault, forcible sex offenses, statutory rape, sexual abuse of a minor, robbery, arson, extortion, extortionate extension of credit, burglary of a dwelling, or any offense under federal, state, or local law that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.

U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 cmt. 1(B)(iii). Under this definition, a prior offense is a crime of violence if it: (1) has physical force as an element, or (2) qualifies as one of the enumerated offenses. Because Gomez-Gomez and the Government agree that a conviction under the California statute does not require the use of physical force as an element, we consider only whether the offense of conviction qualifies as one of the enumerated offenses. The relevant enumerated offense in this case is "forcible sex offenses."

To determine whether Gomez-Gomez's prior criminal offense qualifies as a forcible sex offense, we do not look to his actual conduct. Instead, we consider the offense categorically by looking "only to the fact of conviction and the statutory definition of the prior offense." Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 602, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990). If the full range of the conduct prohibited by the California rape statute falls under the definition of a forcible sex offense, then we must hold that Gomez-Gomez's prior offense, rape as set forth in the California statute, was a crime of violence. If, on the other hand, the California statute prohibits *245 some conduct that is not a forcible sex offense, then Gomez-Gomez's offense was not a crime of violence. Based on the language of the statute, the Government concedes, for purposes of this appeal, that Gomez-Gomez could have been convicted for rape accomplished by means of duress, and that Gomez-Gomez's rape conviction cannot constitute a forcible sex offense if rape by means of duress does not qualify as a forcible sex offense.[3]

III.

We first addressed the meaning of the term forcible sex offense under § 2L1.2 in United States v. Sarmiento-Funes, 374 F.3d 336 (5th Cir.2004). In Sarmiento-Funes, the defendant pleaded guilty to illegally reentering the United States after deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326—the same offense that Gomez-Gomez was convicted of in this case. Id. at 338. At sentencing, the district court applied a crime-of-violence enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A) because the defendant was previously convicted of sexual assault in Missouri. Id. In Missouri, sexual assault is defined as "sexual intercourse with another person knowing that he does so without that person's consent." Mo. Ann. Stat. § 566.040(1) (2008). Under Missouri law, consent is absent, even if the victim "assented" or submitted to the act when:

(a) It is given by a person who lacks the mental capacity to authorize the conduct charged to constitute the offense and such mental incapacity is manifest or known to the actor; or
(b) It is given by a person who by reason of youth, mental disease or defect, or intoxication, is manifestly unable or known by the actor to be unable to make a reasonable judgment as to the nature or harmfulness of the conduct charged to constitute the offense; or

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