United States v. Jose Calles

250 F. App'x 939
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 11, 2007
Docket07-10104
StatusUnpublished

This text of 250 F. App'x 939 (United States v. Jose Calles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Jose Calles, 250 F. App'x 939 (11th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Jose Calles appeals as unreasonable his 240-month sentence imposed after he pled guilty to kidnaping, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a), and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2312. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Calles is a member of Mara Salvatrucha 13 (“MS-13”), a violent street gang with origins in El Salvador. On January 11, 2006, a fellow MS-13 member, Douglas Collocho, told Calles and some other gang members that there was trouble with some black males in their apartment complex parking lot in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Calles and three other MS-13 members armed themselves with machetes and handguns and went to the parking lot in their apartment complex, where Collocho fired four shots at a black male. Calles’s brother, Victor Calles, learned of the shooting and decided that he and Jose should go to West Palm Beach, Florida, to live with their aunt.

Victor Calles lived with his girlfriend, Christina Esfandiari, who was known to have a large amount of money because of a legal settlement. On January 16, 2006, Jose Calles, Victor Calles, Javier Santos, and Joel Muratti-Hani attacked Esfandiari (“the victim”). The four men went into the victim’s bedroom and struck her repeatedly. Jose Calles grabbed a knife from the kitchen and held it to the victim’s throat; the men told the victim not to scream or they would kill her. Soon after attacking the victim, Victor Calles and Santos left with the victim’s credit cards and a personal identification number so that they could obtain cash. While Victor Calles and Santos were away, Muratti-Hani decided that he wanted to rape the victim; Jose Calles assisted in raping the victim by pulling her legs apart so that Muratti-Hani could penetrate her. Jose Calles encouraged Muratti-Hani and taunted the victim while Muratti-Hani raped her. When Victor Calles and Santos returned, the four men forced the victim out of her apartment and into her vehicle. As they left the victim’s apartment, Jose Calles pointed to a picture of her children and told her to say goodbye to her young sons, because she was never going to see them again. In addition to the victim’s car, the four men took other personal property, including her credit cards, jewelry, two computers, and a plasma television.

They drove the victim’s car from Virginia Beach, Virginia, to West Palm Beach, Florida. Upon arrival in West Palm Beach, they checked into a Dollar Inn Motel. On January 17, 2006, at 8:00 A.M., the victim noticed that the four men were asleep, so she ran outside and called for help. Officers from the West Palm Beach Police Department arrived and took Victor and Jose Calles into custody.

Jose Calles pled guilty to a two-count indictment for kidnaping under § 1201(a) *941 and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle under § 2312. For the kidnaping count, the probation officer calculated Calles’s adjusted offense level to be 42, with a reduction of two levels for acceptance of responsibility pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1(a), which gave him a total adjusted offense level of 40. For the theft count, the probation officer calculated an adjusted base offense level of 10. After applying the grouping rules, the probation officer calculated Calles’s total offense level to be 40.

Calles’s presentence investigation report (“PSI”) shows that Calles, who was eighteen years old at the time with a history of drug and alcohol abuse, has a Criminal History Category of I. Specifically, Calles admitted to having used marijuana, powder cocaine, and crack cocaine. He reported that he would use crack cocaine for three or four days at a time. Calles had several disciplinary problems while in school, including obscene gestures, possession of marijuana, disrupting class, sexual harassment, and bringing a knife to school. The probation officer calculated the resulting Sentencing Guidelines range to be 292-365 months of imprisonment.

At the sentencing hearing, the government made a motion for a downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e). The government moved for a twenty percent downward departure because Calles pled guilty the morning of his trial and agreed to testify truthfully before the jury. The government urged the district judge not to go below a twenty percent reduction because Calles did not agree to testify until the morning of his trial, and he has no moral development, demonstrated by his drug usage and problems in school. The government further maintained that the public needed to be protected from Calles, and that only a long sentence would provide protection. Based on a twenty percent reduction, the government urged that Calles’s sentence should be 234 months.

Defense counsel argued that Calles should receive a lower sentence because of his age and cooperation with the government by testifying against his brother, Victor, at Victor’s trial. Additionally, counsel argued that Calles is not an inherently bad person and had no history of violence. Counsel further suggested that imprisonment for ten years (120 months) or less would be appropriate because Calles needs to acquire discipline and direction. Defense counsel urged the district judge to reduce Calles’s sentence by fifty percent or more.

In rebuttal, the government argued that Calles was a danger and that a long sentence was necessary to protect the public. Contrary to defense counsel’s argument, the government argued that Calles was violent demonstrated by the facts of his case, including Calles’s presence during the shooting in the apartment parking lot and his participation in the victim’s rape. The government further argued that Calles’s violent nature was illustrated when the victim was taken forcibly from her apartment, and Calles told her that she would not see her children again. The government noted that, but for Calles’s pleading guilty the morning of his trial, his applicable Sentencing Guidelines offense level would be 42, which corresponds to a Guidelines range of 360 months of imprisonment to life.

At the sentencing hearing, the victim, Esfandiari, spoke on behalf of Calles. She gave the district judge a lengthy description of Calles’s family history and problems. Specifically, she explained that Calles lived in poverty and that he had experienced an unhappy family life. She characterized Calles as “a victim of circumstances that are out of his control.” R5 at 31. In concluding her statement, the victim asked the judge for leniency in sentencing Calles.

*942 At the sentencing hearing, the district judge considered Calles’s arguments and the victim’s statement on behalf of Calles. Before imposing the sentence, the judge stated, “I’ve considered the statements of all of the parties, including the victim, I’ve reviewed the presentence report which contains the advisory guidelines and the statutory factors.” Id. at 32. The judge granted the government’s motion for downward departure and sentenced Calles to a term of 240 months in prison on Count 1 and a term of 120 months in prison on Count 2, to be served concurrently.

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Bluebook (online)
250 F. App'x 939, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jose-calles-ca11-2007.