United States v. Perez-Jiminez

654 F.3d 1136
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedAugust 19, 2011
Docket10-1322
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 654 F.3d 1136 (United States v. Perez-Jiminez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Perez-Jiminez, 654 F.3d 1136 (10th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

654 F.3d 1136 (2011)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Odalis PEREZ-JIMINEZ, a/k/a Perez Odalis, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 10-1322.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

August 19, 2011.

*1138 Submitted on the briefs:[*]

Raymond P. Moore, Federal Public Defender, John T. Carlson, Assistant Federal Public Defender, and David E. Johnson, Research and Writing Specialist, Office of the Federal Public Defender, District of Colorado, Denver, CO, for Defendant-Appellant.

John F. Walsh, United States Attorney, and Paul Farley, Assistant United States Attorney, District of Colorado, Denver, CO, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before KELLY, SEYMOUR, and HOLMES, Circuit Judges.

JEROME A. HOLMES, Circuit Judge.

Bureau of Prisons officers searched Defendant-Appellant Odalis Perez-Jiminez's person and cell at the Federal Correctional Institution in Florence, Colorado. In his pockets, they found two shanks — homemade, sharpened metal knives — each of *1139 which was approximately five-and-a-half inches long and sharpened to a point.

Mr. Perez-Jiminez was indicted on one count of possession of a weapon while an inmate of a federal correctional institution, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1791(a)(2) & (b)(3).[1] He pleaded guilty, and the U.S. Probation Office subsequently prepared a Presentence Report ("PSR").[2]

At sentencing, the district court found that Mr. Perez-Jiminez's instant offense of conviction was a crime of violence pursuant to U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual ("U.S.S.G.") § 4B1.2(a), and that he was a career offender under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(a). Applying the career-offender provisions, the district court assigned Mr. Perez-Jiminez an offense level of fourteen and a criminal history category of VI. These factors yielded an advisory Guidelines imprisonment range of thirty-seven to forty-six months and a fine range of $4000 to $40,000. The district court sentenced Mr. Perez-Jiminez to thirty-seven months' imprisonment and imposed a fine of $2000.

On appeal, Mr. Perez-Jiminez argues that the district court erred in sentencing him as a career offender because his instant offense of conviction was not a crime of violence, and that the district court abused its discretion in imposing a $2000 fine. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm Mr. Perez-Jiminez's sentence.

DISCUSSION

I. Crime of Violence and Career-Offender Status

A. Standard of Review

This court reviews de novo the district court's determinations that Mr. Perez-Jiminez's instant offense of conviction is a crime of violence, United States v. Riggans, 254 F.3d 1200, 1203 (10th Cir.2001), and that Mr. Perez-Jiminez qualifies as a career offender, United States v. Patterson, 561 F.3d 1170, 1172 (10th Cir.2009). The district court's factual findings are reviewed for clear error. Patterson, 561 F.3d at 1172.

B. Overview

Under the Guidelines,

[a] defendant is a career offender if (1) the defendant was at least eighteen years old at the time the defendant committed the instant offense of conviction; (2) the instant offense of conviction is a felony that is either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense; and (3) the defendant has at least two prior felony convictions of either a crime of violence or a controlled substance offense.

U.S.S.G. § 4B1.1(a).

Mr. Perez-Jiminez and the government agree that he meets the first and third prongs for career-offender status, and it is obvious that Mr. Perez-Jiminez's instant offense of conviction is not a controlled-substance *1140 offense. Accordingly, in deciding whether Mr. Perez-Jiminez is a career offender, we need only decide whether his instant offense of conviction — possession of a weapon in prison — is a crime of violence.

A crime of violence is defined as

any offense under federal or state law, punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, that —
(1) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another, or
(2) is burglary of a dwelling, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.

U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a) (emphasis added).

The parties agree that Mr. "Perez-Jiminez's conviction ... is punishable by more than one year's imprisonment, does not involve physical force, and is not one of the crimes enumerated in § 4B1.2(a)(2)." Aplee. Br. at 12; see Aplt. Opening Br. at 14 ("[T]he only way this offense can be classified as a crime of violence is if it `otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.'" (quoting U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(2))). Therefore, in ruling on whether Mr. Perez-Jiminez's instant offense of conviction is a crime of violence — and thus whether he is a career offender — we must only determine whether his offense falls within U.S.S.G. § 4B1.2(a)(2)'s residual clause because the offense "involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another."

C. Conduct-Specific Inquiry

To determine whether a past conviction is for a crime of violence, "we employ a categorical approach that looks to the words of the statute and judicial decisions interpreting it, rather than to the conduct of any particular defendant convicted of the crime." United States v. Wise, 597 F.3d 1141, 1144 (10th Cir.2010) (citing Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 602, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990)), cert. denied, 79 U.S.L.W. 3710 (2011). "[I]f the statute encompasses both conduct that would qualify as a crime of violence and conduct that would not, we employ a modified categorical approach," under which we "look to the statutory elements, the defendant's charging documents, plea agreement and colloquy (if any), and uncontested facts found by the district judge to determine whether the particular defendant's conduct violated the portion of the statute that is a crime of violence." Id. These categorical approaches do "not involve a subjective inquiry into the facts of the case." United States v. McConnell, 605 F.3d 822, 825 (10th Cir.2010), cert. denied, 79 U.S.L.W. 3710 (2011).

However, our precedent explicitly permits the use of a conduct-specific inquiry "when considering whether the instant offense is a crime of violence." Riggans, 254 F.3d at 1204 (emphasis added) (quoting United States v. Smith, 10 F.3d 724, 731 n. 10 (10th Cir.1993)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Under the conduct-specific inquiry, the "court correctly consider[s] the facts underlying [the defendant's] conviction" in determining whether it is for a crime of violence.[3]Id. Although *1141

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Daniel Mathis
932 F.3d 242 (Fourth Circuit, 2019)
United States v. White
Tenth Circuit, 2018
United States v. Sanchez-Urias
887 F.3d 1069 (Tenth Circuit, 2018)
United States v. Cravens
Tenth Circuit, 2017
United States v. Fajardo-Zamora
664 F. App'x 728 (Tenth Circuit, 2016)
United States v. Juanico
658 F. App'x 906 (Tenth Circuit, 2016)
United States v. Pawelski
651 F. App'x 750 (Tenth Circuit, 2016)
United States v. Rising
631 F. App'x 610 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Vanderwerff
788 F.3d 1266 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Wray
776 F.3d 1182 (Tenth Circuit, 2015)
United States v. Sharp
749 F.3d 1267 (Tenth Circuit, 2014)
In re Jane Doe 13-A
136 So. 3d 748 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2014)
United States v. Mendoza-Lopez
488 F. App'x 329 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Sandoval
696 F.3d 1011 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Kellogg
494 F. App'x 888 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Jermaine Mobley
687 F.3d 625 (Fourth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Gonzalez
486 F. App'x 708 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Johnson
475 F. App'x 288 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Vargas-Medina
448 F. App'x 857 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)
United States v. Moore
456 F. App'x 762 (Tenth Circuit, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
654 F.3d 1136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-perez-jiminez-ca10-2011.