United States v. Zuniga-Lazaro, Sergi

Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit·Decided November 3, 2004·No. 03-3866·Published

Opinion

In the

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

No. 03-3866 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

SERGIO ZUNIGA-LAZARO, Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. No. 03-CR-58—John C. Shabaz, Judge.

ARGUED SEPTEMBER 21, 2004—DECIDED NOVEMBER 3, 2004

Before MANION, ROVNER, and WOOD, Circuit Judges. ROVNER, Circuit Judge. Sergio Zuniga-Lazaro, a citizen of Mexico, pleaded guilty to being present in the United States without the permission of the Attorney General after previously having been deported. The district court ordered him to serve a prison term of 57 months, a sentence at the top of the range specified by the Sentencing Guidelines. Zuniga-Lazaro appeals, contending that the district court may have denied his request for a downward departure because it misunderstood the nature of one of his prior convictions and that the court erred in assigning criminal history points to that and certain other prior convictions.

2 No. 03-3866

We have no jurisdiction to review the discretionary denial of Zuniga-Lazaro’s departure motion; and although the court did err in assigning criminal history points to one of his prior convictions, we are satisfied that the error had no impact on the sentencing decision. We therefore affirm the sentence.

I.

Zuniga-Lazaro has been entering this country illegally since 1980. In 1992, he was convicted in an Illinois court of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. After he finished serving his 90-day jail term for that offense, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) took him into custody but released him on bond pending a deportation hearing. Zuniga- Lazaro failed to appear for that hearing and was deported in absentia on September 8, 1992. He remained at large for nearly seven years. Following his arrest in Billings, Montana, Zuniga-Lazaro departed the country voluntarily on August 26, 1999. He re-entered the country within weeks, however. In January 2002, he was arrested in Minneapolis and charged with theft. At that time, the 1992 removal order was reinstated and the INS removed him to Mexico on February 1, 2002. He returned to the United States in March of the following year.

On April 23, 2003, the Wisconsin State Patrol arrested Zuniga-Lazaro in Janesville, Wisconsin, for driving without a license. The State Patrol subsequently determined that Zuniga-Lazaro previously had been deported and was present in this country illegally. The federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“BICE”)—the successor to the INS—took custody of Zuniga-Lazaro two days later.

A grand jury later indicted Zuniga-Lazaro for entering the United States without official permission following his prior deportation from this country. See 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). Zuniga-Lazaro eventually entered into an agreement with

No. 03-3866 3

the government pursuant to which he agreed to plead guilty to the charge and the government agreed to recommend that the court grant him maximum credit under the Sentencing Guidelines for acceptance of responsibility. R. 15. At a change- of-plea hearing on August 6, 2003, the district court accepted Zuniga-Lazaro’s guilty plea and entered a judgment of conviction. R. 28.

The Probation Office subsequently conducted an investigation into Zuniga-Lazaro’s background and criminal history and prepared a Pre-Sentence Report (“PSR”). R. 34. Pursuant to the November 2002 Sentencing Guidelines, the PSR assigned a total of six criminal history points to Zuniga- Lazaro : two points for the 90-day jail term imposed on his 1992 conviction for aggravated criminal sexual abuse (see United States Sentencing Commission, Guidelines Manual, § 4A1.1(b) (Nov. 2002)); two points for an outstanding warrant for his arrest issued by a California court for violating the terms of a two-year term of probation (see § 4A1.1(d)); one point for a one-year sentence of conditional discharge imposed on a 1997 Illinois conviction for domestic battery (see §§ 4A1.1(c), 4A1.2(c)(1)); and one point for a 30-day suspended jail term and one year of probation imposed on a 2002 conviction for leaving the scene of an accident in Minnesota (see §§ 4A1.1(c), 4A1.2(c)(1)). R. 34 at 7-11 ¶¶ 37, 38, 41, 43. These six points placed Zuniga-Lazaro in a criminal history category of III. Id. ¶ 44. The Guidelines specified a base offense level of 8 for Zuniga-Lazaro’s offense, see § 2L1.2(a); however, that was increased by 16 levels because his prior deportation followed his 1992 conviction for aggravated criminal sexual abuse, which under the Guidelines was considered a felony crime of violence. R. 34 at 6 ¶¶ 21-22; see § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(ii) & comment. (n.1(B)(ii)(I)). In view of Zuniga-Lazaro’s guilty plea and consistent with the plea agreement, the PSR subtracted three levels (the maximum deduction) for acceptance of responsibility. R. 34 at 6 ¶¶ 17- 18, 26; § 3E1.1. The final adjusted offense level of 21, 4 No. 03-3866

coupled with a category III criminal history, yielded a sentencing range of 46 to 57 months. Neither party filed any objections to the PSR.

On October 15, 2003, Zuniga-Lazaro appeared for sentencing . After confirming that his attorney had reviewed the PSR with him and that Zuniga-Lazaro had no objections to the PSR, R. 29 at 2-3, the district court reviewed and adopted the PSR’s calculation of the sentencing range, R. 29 at 5. Zuniga-Lazaro’s attorney made an oral motion for a downward departure from that range pursuant to Guidelines section 5K2.13, contending that Zuniga-Lazaro was suffering from a significantly reduced mental capacity at the time of his offense. R. 29 at 6.

Defendant’s other criminal history and his biography in general suggests a man of limited capacity leading a hard scrabble life. The presentence report mentions a childhood head injury and a resulting steel plate and memory problems. The probation officer conducting the interview in preparation of the report notes during her interview that the defendant had difficulty staying on track and answering questions. The defendant has no known mental health issues. He takes no medications for mental illness nor has any debilitating chemical dependency . However, given his criminal history and biography suggesting a diminished capacity, that is not the result of voluntary drug or alcohol use.

He shows a relatively minimal history of violence and will be deported again the moment he is released from U.S. custody. Defense does not suggest that the defendant be released with a mere slap on the wrist, but given the combination of factors of diminished capacity and immediate deportation upon release the defense respectfully recommends a downward departure and suggests a sentence in the range of 18 to 24 months which under the guidelines would be the equivalent to that merited

No. 03-3866 5

given a Criminal History Category III of an offense level of 13 down from an offense level of 21. Thank you, Your Honor.

R. 29 at 6-7.

The government neither supported nor opposed the motion. The Assistant United States Attorney remarked simply that “the government has no doubt that the motion is made in good faith and I just note that the . . . criminal conduct in this case is very minor but the government will not take a position on the motion.” R. 29 at 7.

When given the opportunity to address the court himself, Zuniga-Lazaro made a brief statement in which he, among other things, promised that he would not re-enter the United States:

I’m sorry. Forgive me. My parents are elderly and sick and they are about 70 years old and they are also poor. I don’t want to lose them. I lost my children. I won’t come back. I am sorry. And God bless everybody.

R. 29 at 7.

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