United States v. Mejia-Paz

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Decided: September 3, 2025
• Docket: 24-20494
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

Case: 24-20494 Document: 54-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 09/03/2025

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ____________ United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit No. 24-20494 Summary Calendar FILED ____________ September 3, 2025 Lyle W. Cayce United States of America, Clerk

Plaintiff—Appellee,

versus

Edin Mejia-Paz,

Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas USDC No. 4:24-CR-237-1 ______________________________

Before Higginbotham, Engelhardt, and Ramirez, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam: * Edin Mejia-Paz challenges the sentence for his guilty plea conviction of illegal reentry following deportation after a felony conviction. Mejia-Paz asserts that the district court’s oral pronouncement of sentence conflicts with the written judgment. Specifically, he argues that the written judgment includes an unpronounced special condition of supervised release that _____________________ * This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5. Case: 24-20494 Document: 54-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 09/03/2025

No. 24-20494

requires him to immediately report, continue to report, or surrender to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and follow all their instructions and reporting requirements until any deportation proceedings are completed. He contends that the report-or-surrender condition needs to be excised from the written judgment to remedy the conflict. Mejia-Paz has not demonstrated that the district court either abused its discretion or committed reversible plain error by including the challenged condition in the written judgment. See United States v. Gomez, 960 F.3d 173, 179 (5th Cir. 2020). Thus, we pretermit the question of the proper standard of review. See United States v. Rodriguez, 523 F.3d 519, 525 (5th Cir. 2008). The record supports that there is a mere ambiguity, and not a conflict, between the oral sentence and written judgment as to the report-or-surrender condition. See United States v. Vasquez-Puente, 922 F.3d 700, 703-05 (5th Cir. 2019). The challenged condition is consistent with the district court’s intent, and the parties’ understanding, that Mejia-Paz will be deported following his prison term and thus does not broaden any of the restrictions or requirements of supervised release that were orally pronounced at the sentencing hearing. See id. at 705. Accordingly, the inclusion of the report-or-surrender condition in the written judgment was not impermissible. See id. The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.