United States v. Torres-Diaz

438 F.3d 529, 2006 WL 225615
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 1, 2006
Docket05-40090
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 438 F.3d 529 (United States v. Torres-Diaz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth 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. Torres-Diaz, 438 F.3d 529, 2006 WL 225615 (5th Cir. 2006).

Opinion

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge:

Defendant-appellant Justino DeJesus Torres-Diaz (Torres) was convicted, pursuant to his guilty plea, of illegally reentering the United States after deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1326(a) and (b). Torres challenges his 33-month sentence, principally contending that the district court erred in holding that his prior Connecticut conviction was for a crime of violence under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2. We affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Torres pled guilty to an indictment charging that he was an alien found unlawfully in the United States on August 7, 2004, after having previously been deported and not having obtained consent to reapply for admission into the United States contrary to 8 U.S.C. §§ 1326(a) and 1326(b). 1

The Presentence Report (PSR) reflects that Torres, a native and citizen of Guatemala, had lived in Connecticut with his wife and child, and, in a separate arrangement, with a girlfriend he kept on the side. Bridgeport, Connecticut police and medical personnel responded to a domestic violence report on April 2, 2002, which indicated that defendant had raped his girlfriend Gloria Maldonado, and then, when she ran to the phone to dial 911, had hit her over the head with a bottle, leaving her half nude and unresponsive on a sofa when the police arrived. As a result, Torres was charged with sexual assault in a spousal or cohabiting relationship, Conn. Gen.Stat. § 53a-70b (“Sexual assault in spousal or cohabiting relationship: Class B felony”) and with assault in the second degree, Conn. Gen.Stat. § 53a-60. Torres was represented by counsel. On June 26, 2003, the charge of sexual assault was dismissed, and, as the PSR states, “the defendant was convicted of the offense of assault 2nd degree, wherein he was sentenced to 5 years’ incarceration, suspended for 3 years’ probation, in the Fairfield, Connecticut Judicial District Court, Docket Number FBT-CR02-0178143-T.” As reflected by Torres’s testimony at the sentencing hearing below, he agreed that “everything” in his PSR was “factually correct” and that his June 26, 2003 conviction was pursuant to his plea of guilty.

As a result of this June 26, 2003 conviction, Torres was deported to Mexico on *531 May 7, 2004. He illegally reentered the United States on August 7, 2004.

The PSR, applying U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2, assessed a base offense level of 8, and increased it by 8 levels to a total of 16, under section 2L1.2(b)(l)(C), because the Connecticut conviction was “an aggravated felony.” The government on October 21, 2004 filed an objection to the PSR, contending that the Connecticut conviction was for “a crime of violence” and hence the base offense level should be increased by 16 (rather than 8) levels under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A)(ii). 2 In support, the government filed a copy of the charging document in the Connecticut case, the second (and final) count of which alleges:

that at the city of Bridgeport, Fairfield County, on the 7th day of April, 2002, at or about 1:00 a.m., at 163 Laurel Avenue, 2nd floor, the said DEGESUS TORRES, with intent to cause physical injury to one GLORIA MALDONADO, caused such injury to GLORIA MALDONADO by means of a dangerous instrument, to wit: a glass bottle, in violation of Section 53a-60(A)(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes. 3

The government contended that this offense — a “violation of section 53a-60(a)(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes” — as a matter of law constitutes the generic offense of “aggravated assault” and is hence a crime of violence under the provision of U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2 note l.(B)(iii) that, for purposes of section 2L1.2(b)(l),

“ ‘Crime of violence’ means any of the following: 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.”

Torres filed a response to the government’s objection and his own objection to the PSR, contending that his conviction was neither a crime of violence nor an aggravated felony, and stating that he “objects to the Government’s attempts to introduce into evidence the underlying judgment” [sic: apparently referring to the *532 charging document] because “[i]t is improper for the Court to review the underlying judgment because it does not fit within the narrow exception to the categorical approach set forth in Taylor [v. United States, 495 U.S. 575, 110 S.Ct. 2143, 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990)].”

The sentencing hearing began November 23, 2004, and recessed until December 21, to allow the defense to further address whether the Connecticut conviction was for an “aggravated assault” within the meaning of section 2L1.2 note l.(B)(iii). Defense counsel at these hearings (as in its response to the government’s objection to the PSR) took the position that the Connecticut “Assault in the second degree” statute under which defendant was convicted, Conn. GemStat. § 53a-60(a), was neither a crime of violence nor an aggravated assault; and, further, that “any consideration of the indictment under the Taylor approach, your Honor, we do not believe it falls under any kind of exception to the categorical approach,” and that “we have objected to the government’s attempts to admit that indictment. We believe categorical approach means you don’t even go there, especially since there was no jury finding in this case.” 4 The district court overruled these objections to consideration of the charging document.

The district court addressed Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-60, which provides:

§ 53a-60. Assault in the second degree: Class D felony

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
438 F.3d 529, 2006 WL 225615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-torres-diaz-ca5-2006.