United States v. Sanchez-Toro

Opinion

[NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

No. 96-2234

UNITED STATES,

Appellee,

v.

MIGUEL SANCHEZ-TORO,

Defendant, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO

[Hon. Hector M. Laffitte, U.S. District Judge]

Before

Selya, Boudin and Stahl, Circuit Judges.

Esther Castro Schmidt on brief for appellant.

Guillermo Gil, United States Attorney, Jose A. Quiles-Espinosa,

Senior Litigation Counsel, Jose Ruiz-Santiago, Assistant United States

Attorney, and Nelson Perez-Sosa, Assistant United States Attorney, on

brief for appellee.

July 18, 1997

Per Curiam. Upon careful review of the record and the

parties' briefs, we perceive no reason to overturn the

sentence enhancement imposed under U.S.S.G. 3C1.2 for

reckless endangerment during flight. Defendant's conduct

came within the terms of that section, in that he accelerated

his car toward a government agent who had to jump aside to

avoid impact. See U.S.S.G. 2A1.4 (defining "reckless").

Further, the district court was not required to credit

defendant's claim that he thought he was fleeing from would-

be assailants, particularly as the government agents

identified themselves before defendant attempted to flee. We

require no additional findings on that point. See Fed. R.

Crim. P. 32(c)(1); U.S.S.G. 6A1.3.

Finally, the district court was not disabled from making

the sentence enhancement by the parties' stipulation of

facts, which omitted the circumstances of defendant's flight.

The district court properly based defendant's sentence on all

the relevant facts, including those in the pre-sentence

investigation report, which facts defendant has not denied.

See U.S.S.G. 6B1.4(d).

Affirmed. See 1st Cir. R. 27.1.

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