United States v. Hernandez

27 F. App'x 36
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedNovember 8, 2001
DocketNo. 00-1754
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 27 F. App'x 36 (United States v. Hernandez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second 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. Hernandez, 27 F. App'x 36 (2d Cir. 2001).

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the judgment of said district court, entered on November 9, 2000, be, and it hereby is, AFFIRMED.

Defendant-Appellant Richard Alberto Hernandez, an alien from the Dominican Republic, appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Allen G. Schwartz, Judge) sentencing him to fifty-seven months’ imprisonment for illegally reentering the United States after conviction for a felony in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1326(a) and 1326(b)(2).

Hernandez challenges his sentence on three grounds: that the district court erroneously characterized the underlying felony as “aggravated” and, on this basis, mistakenly increased his base-offense level by sixteen points; that the court miscalculated his criminal history points; and that the court erred by failing to consider a downward departure based on the relatively innocuous nature of the underlying felony, his family circumstances, and his willingness to be deported.

As a preliminary matter, we note that contrary to defense counsel’s position, the 1998 version of the United States Sentencing Guidelines, not the 1995 version, applies here. Title 18 U.S.C. § 3553 directs the courts to apply the Guidelines “in effect on the date the defendant is sentenced,” id. § 3353(1)(4), except “where application of the Guidelines in effect at sentencing would result in a more severe sentence than the version in effect at the time of the commission of the offense,” thereby violating the Ex Post Facto Clause. United States v. Fitzgerald, 232 F.3d 315, 318-19 (2d Cir.2000) (quoting United States v. Broderson, 67 F.3d 452, 456 (2d Cir.1995)). That is not the case here, and the 1998 Guidelines therefore apply.

Calculation of the Defendant’s Base-Offense Level

The defendant pled guilty to illegal reentry subsequent to conviction for a felony in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1326(a) and 1326(b)(2). The Guidelines establish a base-offense level of eight for illegal reentry, see U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 (1998), and a sixteen-level enhancement for commission of this crime subsequent to conviction for an aggravated felony, see id. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A). An “aggravated” felony includes “illicit trafficking in a controlled substance (as defined in section 802 of Title 21), including a drug trafficking crime (as defined in section 924(c) of Title 18).” 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(B). A “drug trafficking crime,” in turn, denotes “any felony punishable under the Controlled Substances Act,” 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(2), which includes both state and federal crimes defined as felonies under the applicable law. See 21 U.S.C. § 802(13); see also United States v. Pomes-Garcia, 171 F.3d 142, 145 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 880, 120 S.Ct. 191, 145 L.Ed.2d 161 (1999).

Hernandez pled guilty to illegal reentry subsequent to “[a] conviction on or about April 29, 1992 in the Common Pleas Court ... of Pennsylvania for possession [39]*39with the intent to deliver a controlled substance .... ” Pennsylvania law classifies this crime as a felony, see Pa. Cons.Stat. §§ 780 — 113(a)(30), 780-113(f)(2); and it is punishable under the Controlled Substances Act, see 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1). Hernandez’s prior conviction therefore constitutes an “aggravated felony,” and the court correctly increased his base-offense level by sixteen points.

Criminal History Category

Hernandez challenges the district court’s calculation of his criminal history points because (1) the court did not subtract a portion of his sentence of imprisonment for the 1992 Pennsylvania conviction, which he claims was “suspended” within the meaning of U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(b)(2); and (2) the court allegedly miscalculated the points in connection with his 1989 New York conviction.

Section 4A1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines instructs the sentencing court to assign three criminal history points “for each prior sentence of imprisonment exceeding one year and one month,” but “if part of a sentence of imprisonment was suspended, ‘sentence of imprisonment’ refers only to the portion that was not suspended,” id. § 4A1.2(b)(2). Hernandez argues that because the INS deported him before the expiration of his sentence of imprisonment resulting from the Pennsylvania conviction, that sentence was “suspended,” and the court should have subtracted the time he did not serve as a result of his deportation. “Suspension” does not, however, refer to time not served because of the decision of a government agency, here the INS, which deported Hernandez prior to the expiration of his sentence; it refers to the judicial authority of a court. See United States v. Harris, 237 F.3d 585, 589 (6th Cir.2001); cf. United States v. Tabaka, 982 F.2d UK), 103 (3d Cir.1992). Because Hernandez’s Pennsylvania sentence exceeded one year and one month, and because his deportation prior to the expiration of that sentence does not constitute a “suspension,” the court correctly assigned him three criminal history points for his 1992 conviction.

Hernandez also challenges the court’s assignment of four criminal history points based on his 1989 conviction. The court assigned Hernandez two points for this conviction because, although Supreme Court, New York County, initially sentenced him to five years of probation, that court revoked his probation on March 16, 1999 on the grounds that Hernandez had failed to comply with a 1992 bench warrant. Under these circumstances, the Guidelines instruct the sentencing court to add “the original term of imprisonment to any term of imprisonment imposed upon revocation.” U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(k)(l). The resulting one-year term constitutes a “pri- or sentence of imprisonment of at least sixty days,” to which the Guidelines assign two criminal history points. U.S.S.G. § 4Al.l(b). The Guidelines further instruct the sentencing court to assess two additional criminal history points “if the defendant committed the instant offense while under any criminal justice sentence,” U.S.S.G. § 4Al.l(d).

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Bluebook (online)
27 F. App'x 36, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-hernandez-ca2-2001.