United States v. Trujillo

286 F. App'x 535
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedApril 14, 2008
Docket07-2174
StatusUnpublished

This text of 286 F. App'x 535 (United States v. Trujillo) 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. Trujillo, 286 F. App'x 535 (10th Cir. 2008).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

WADE BRORBY, Circuit Judge.

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. RApp. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.

Appellant Fernando Trujillo pled guilty to one count of illegal reentry of a deported alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b). He now appeals his seventy-seven-month sentence, arguing it is unreasonable under the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors due to family circumstances involving his terminally ill brother which compelled Mr. Trujillo to illegally reenter the United States to obtain money to pay for his brother’s chemotherapy *536 treatment. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a) and 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm Mr. Trujillo’s sentence.

I. Procedural Background

Mr. Trujillo was arrested on July 4, 2006, after entering the United States by walking across the border from Mexico. After Mr. Trujillo pled guilty to one count of illegal reentry of a deported alien in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) and (b), a probation officer prepared a presentence report calculating his sentence under the applicable United States Sentencing Guidelines (“Guidelines” or “U.S.S.G.”). The probation officer set Mr. Trujillo’s base offense level at eight pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(a) and increased his base level sixteen levels pursuant to § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A) because he had previously been deported following a conviction for a crime of violence, stemming from his 1993 convictions for two felony counts for robbery. The probation officer also recommended a three-level offense reduction for acceptance of responsibility, resulting in a total offense level of twenty-one. The presentence report also set Mr. Trujillo’s criminal history category at VI, which, together with an offense level of twenty-one, resulted in a recommended Guidelines sentencing range of seventy-seven to ninety-six months imprisonment.

Mr. Trujillo filed three sentencing mem-oranda moving for a downward departure under U.S.S.G. §§ 5K2.0 and 5K2.11 and a below-Guidelines-range sentence under the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors, 1 which he renewed at the sentencing hearing. In requesting a downward departure under U.S.S.G. §§ 5K2.0 and 5K2.11, Mr. Trujillo argued family circumstances and lesser harm reasons, relating to his terminally ill brother’s need for chemotherapy treatment, caused him to illegally reenter the country to earn money to render financial assistance to his family. In requesting a below-Guidelines sentence under the § 3553(a) sentencing factors, Mr. Trujillo argued his reason for illegally reentering the country to help his family should be considered, as well as the nature and circumstances of his offense, which were unremarkable in all respects and merely involved being apprehended near the border after illegally reentering the country.

On receipt of Mr. Trujillo’s motion for downward departure, the probation officer contacted Mr. Trujillo’s mother, who stated Mr. Trujillo entered the United States to help her economically. She also provided information: 1) her son, Pedro, had contracted lung cancer; 2) he received his first chemotherapy treatment in January 2006 (over five months before Mr. Trujillo entered the country illegally); 3) government benefits covered all of Pedro’s chemotherapy sessions and medication; and 4) Pedro died on December 23, 2006, leaving her to pay the outstanding hospital bill which was in an amount unknown to her. Based on this information, the probation officer concluded that, while Mr. Trujillo’s mother would undertake some financial hardship as a result of Mr. Trujillo’s incarceration, it did not appear to constitute an extraordinary family circumstance or a lesser harm situation warranting a downward departure.

After hearing and considering the parties’ arguments at the sentencing hearing, the district court denied Mr. Trujillo’s request for a downward departure. In so doing, it noted Mr. Trujillo’s illegal reentry into the country occurred after his broth *537 er’s medical bills were being paid by the government, so it appeared his reentry was for economic reasons to help his mother. It concluded that while Mr. Trujillo’s mother would suffer some financial hardship as a result of his incarceration, many illegal aliens enter the country on the basis of sick family members so the circumstance presented was a very common situation which did not constitute an extraordinary family circumstance or lesser harm situation warranting a downward departure.

In sentencing Mr. Trujillo, the district court explicitly stated it had reviewed the presentence report and adopted the unopposed factual findings, considered the advisory Guidelines applications and the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors, and reviewed applicable cases concerning family medical conditions and circumstances, which it cited and discussed, noting family circumstances involving an ill family member did not ordinarily warrant a lesser sentence. It also discussed the § 3553(a) factors in detail and concluded a sentence of seventy-seven months imprisonment, which was at the low end of the advisory sentencing range, was reasonable and sufficient, without being greater than necessary, to comply with the Sentencing Reform Act and therefore it would not depart or vary from the advisory Guidelines sentence. It then imposed a seventy-seven-month sentence.

II. Discussion

On appeal, Mr. Trujillo argues the district court’s imposition of a sixteen-level increase in his offense level, pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A), is unreasonably harsh under the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors due to his special family circumstances involving his brother’s illness and resulting financial problems which prompted his illegal reentry into the United States. We begin our discussion by clarifying that a sentence above or below the recommended Guidelines range based on an application of Chapters Four or Five of the Guidelines is referred to as a “departure,” while a sentence above or below the recommended Guidelines range through an application of the sentencing factors in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) is called a “variance.” United States v. Atencio, 476 F.3d 1099

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286 F. App'x 535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-trujillo-ca10-2008.