United States v. Monsivais-Lopez

363 F. Supp. 3d 792
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedJanuary 29, 2019
DocketCause No. 1:18-CR-218-LY
StatusPublished

This text of 363 F. Supp. 3d 792 (United States v. Monsivais-Lopez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Monsivais-Lopez, 363 F. Supp. 3d 792 (W.D. Tex. 2019).

Opinion

LEE YEAKEL, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Before the court in the above-styled and numbered cause are Defendant's Motion to Dismiss filed October 17, 2018 (Dkt. No.

*79632); Government's Response in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the Indictment filed November 2, 2018 (Dkt. No. 36); and Government's Notice of Supplemental Authority filed November 26, 2018 (Dkt. No. 37). On November 30, 2018, the court conducted a hearing at which all parties were represented by counsel. Having considered the motion, response, attached exhibits, supplemental authority, applicable law, and the arguments of counsel, the court will deny the motion for the reasons to follow.

I. BACKGROUND

On June 5, 2018, Monsivais-Lopez was indicted on one count of illegal reentry into the United States. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). Monsivais-Lopez, a citizen of Mexico, while in immigration custody in Pearsall, Texas, was served in person with a United States Department of Homeland Security form titled "Notice to Appear" on April 6, 2010. The form notice states that Monsivais-Lopez is subject to removal because he is "an alien present in the United States who has not been admitted or paroled." The notice informed Monsivais-Lopez,

YOU ARE ORDERED to appear before an immigration judge of the United States Department of Justice at: 800 Dolorosa Street, Suite 300 San Antonio Texas 78207, on (Date) a date to be set, at (Time) a time to be set, to show why you should not be removed from the United States based on the charge set above.

The certificate-of-service portion of the notice indicates that Monsivais-Lopez was provided with "oral notice in the Spanish language of the time and place of his [ ] hearing and of the consequences of failure to appear." Immediately above the certificate of service, dated April 6, 2010, Monsivais-Lopez signed a request for an expedited removal hearing and waived his right to a 10-day waiting period before appearing before an immigration judge. The record does not include evidence that Monsivais-Lopez was ever personally served with a written notice of hearing containing the time and place of the hearing, though the Government asserts that "detained inmates are generally provided with written or oral notice of the hearing."1

Removal proceedings occurred on May 3, 2010. According to the Order of the Immigration Judge signed May 3, 2010, "the hearing was conducted by teleconferencing" with the immigration judge located in San Antonio and the hearing occurring in Pearsall. The order provides, "[u]pon the basis of respondent's [Monsivais-Lopez's] admissions" the immigration judge determined that [Monsivais-Lopez] is subject to removal on the charge in the Notice to Appear. Additionally, the order includes, "[Monsivais-Lopez] has made no application for relief from removal." The immigration judge ordered Monsivais-Lopez removed from the United States to Mexico. Although the record does not contain a signed waiver of appeal, the order includes the notation, "Appeal: WAIVED" at the end of the order. Monsivais-Lopez was removed from the United States on May 10, 2010.

The May 3, 2010 removal order was reinstated and Monsivais-Lopez was removed again on June 29, 2012.2 Monsivais-Lopez came to the attention of federal law-enforcement *797authorities in Austin, Texas on May 29, 2016. Monsivais-Lopez however, did not enter federal custody until May 4, 2018, after he completed a two-year term of imprisonment for the state felony offense of driving while intoxicated. The charge at issue followed when a grand jury returned an indictment on June 5, 2018, for illegal reentry. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). The May 3, 2014 removal order is the basis for the instant indictment. Although Monsivais-Lopez originally pleaded guilty to the charge alleged by the Government in the June 5, 2018 indictment, the court granted Monsivais-Lopez's request to withdraw his guilty plea on October 23, 2018 (Dkt. No. 35).

In order to prove illegal reentry, the Government must prove that Monsivais-Lopez "has been denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed or has departed the United States while an order of exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding." Id. The lawfulness or validity of a prior removal order is not an element of an illegal-reentry offense, and the Government need only prove the fact of a prior removal. United States v. Mendoza-Lopez , 481 U.S. 828, 834-35 & n. 9, 107 S.Ct. 2148, 95 L.Ed.2d 772 (1987). The only statutory defense available to a defendant charged with illegal reentry into the United States is a collateral attack on the defendant's prior removal order. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d) ( "1326(d)").

II. LEGAL STANDARD

A criminal defendant may allege a defect in an indictment in a pretrial motion. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(b)(3)(B). An indictment must contain a "plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged." Fed. R. Crim. P. 7(c)(1). "[A] motion to dismiss an indictment for failure to state an offense is a challenge to the sufficiency of the indictment." United States v. Kay , 359 F.3d 738, 742 (5th Cir. 2004). When the court decides such a motion, it is required to "take the allegations of the indictment as true and to determine whether an offense has been stated." United States v. Hogue , 132 F.3d 1087, 1089 (5th Cir. 1998).

The propriety of granting a motion to dismiss an indictment ...

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