United States v. Rivera-Oros

590 F.3d 1123, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 28548, 2009 WL 5102789
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedDecember 29, 2009
Docket08-2035
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 590 F.3d 1123 (United States v. Rivera-Oros) 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. Rivera-Oros, 590 F.3d 1123, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 28548, 2009 WL 5102789 (10th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

HOLMES, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant Rodrigo RiveraOros pleaded guilty to one count of reentering the United States after having been previously deported following a felony conviction, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a), (b). The district court calculated a modified advisory Guidelines range — including a criminal history downward departure— yielding a range of forty-six to fifty-seven months’ imprisonment. It sentenced Mr. Rivera-Oros to forty-six months’ imprisonment. Mr. Rivera-Oros challenges the court’s calculation of the Guidelines range, arguing that the district court incorrectly applied a sixteen-level enhancement to his offense level for having previously committed a crime of violence. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a). Finding no error, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Mr. Rivera-Oros is a Mexican citizen who has lived in the United States for almost his entire life. In 2005, he was arrested and convicted in the Superior Court of Maricopa County, Arizona, of felony burglary in the second degree, which carries a maximum term of three and a half years’ imprisonment. 1 Mr. *1125 Rivera-Oros was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, followed by three years’ probation. After serving his sentence, Mr. Rivera-Oros was released to federal immigration officers and was deported.

On October 6, 2006, Mr. Rivera-Oros was arrested by the United States Border Patrol near Hachita, New Mexico, while in the process of crossing the border into the United States. He admitted that he had entered the country illegally. Mr. RiveraOros was indicted in the District of New Mexico on one count of illegally reentering the United States after having been previously deported, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a), (b). He pleaded guilty without a plea agreement. According to the presentence investigation report (“PSR”), Mr. Rivera-Oros’s total offense level was 21, which included a sixteen-level enhancement for having previously committed a crime of violence, namely his 2005 burglary conviction. See United States Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“U.S.S.G.”) § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A) (2007). Mr. Rivera-Oros had a criminal history score of 8, which placed him in criminal history category IV. However, concerned that his criminal history score might over-represent his future dangerousness and his risk of recidivism, the PSR suggested that Mr. Rivera-Oros was more similarly situated to defendants with a criminal history category of III.

Mr. Rivera-Oros filed a sentencing memorandum objecting to the PSR. R., Vol. I, Doc. 52 (Sentencing Mem., filed Jan. 15, 2008). However, he did not challenge the calculation of the Guidelines range. Instead, he argued that a below-Guidelines sentence was “‘sufficient, but not greater than necessary.’ ” Id. at 3-4 (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)).

The district court agreed that Mr. Rivera-Oros’s criminal history score over-represented the seriousness of his criminal history. Therefore, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3(b)(1), the court departed downward, assigning Mr. Rivera-Oros to criminal history category III. Based on a criminal history category III and an offense level of 21, the modified advisory Guidelines range was forty-six to fifty-seven months’ imprisonment. The court denied Mr. Rivera-Oros’s requests for a variance or further departure and sentenced him to forty-six months’ imprisonment, the bottom of the modified advisory Guidelines range.

This appeal followed. The only issue is whether Mr. Rivera-Oros’s prior burglary conviction is a “crime of violence” supporting a sixteen-level increase to his offense level.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

Whether a prior offense is a “crime of violence” under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b) is a question of law that we generally review de novo. United States v. Maldonado-Lopez, 517 F.3d 1207, 1208 (10th Cir.2008); see also United States v. Juarez-Galvan, 572 F.3d 1156, 1158 (10th Cir.), cert. denied — U.S. -, 130 S.Ct. 762, — L.Ed.2d -, 2009 WL 3415133 (2009). But when a defendant fails to object to the district court’s application of a Guidelines enhancement, we review only for plain error. United States v. Romero, 491 F.3d 1173, 1176-77 (10th Cir.2007); see also United States v. Garcia-Caraveo, 586 F.3d 1230, 1232 (10th Cir.2009); Juarez-Galvan, 572 F.3d at 1158. Mr. Rivera-Oros concedes that he did not object to the district court’s application of the sixteen-level enhancement for having committed a crime of violence. Therefore, *1126 plain error review applies. To prevail under the plain error standard, the appellant must prove that the district court (1) committed an error, (2) that was “clear or obvious under current law,” and which (3) affects the appellant’s “substantial rights.” United States v. Goode, 483 F.3d 676, 681 (10th Cir.2007) (internal quotation marks omitted); see United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 733-37, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). If these requirements are met, “this Court may exercise discretion to correct the error if it seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings.” Goode, 483 F.3d at 681 (internal quotation marks omitted); see Juarez-Galvan, 572 F.3d at 1158-59. However, we conclude that the district court did not commit any error, plain or otherwise, and consequently, we affirm.

B. Crime of Violence Framework

The Guidelines impose a sixteen-level enhancement if an alien “was deported, or unlawfully remained in the United States, after ... a conviction for a felony that is ... a crime of violence.” U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l). A “crime of violence” is defined as:

murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, aggravated assault, forcible sex offenses, statutory rape, sexual abuse of a minor, robbery, arson, extortion, extortionate extension of credit, burglary of a dwelling, or any offense under federal, state, or local law that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.

U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2, cmt.

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Bluebook (online)
590 F.3d 1123, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 28548, 2009 WL 5102789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rivera-oros-ca10-2009.