Opinion

United States v. Michel-Garcia

  • 201 F. App'x 476
Court
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Filed
Sep 14, 2006
Status
Published
On the bench
Graber, Nelson, Pregerson
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 12.8%

The opinion

MEMORANDUM **

Jose Alberto Michel-Garcia appeals from his 77-month sentence imposed following his guilty-plea conviction for being a deported alien found in the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Michel-Garcia contends that the government produced insufficient evidence to demonstrate clearly and unequivocally that his prior conviction under California Health & Safety Code § 11352(a) qualified as a “drug trafficking offense” for the purpose of a sentencing enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(l)(A).

California Health and Safety Code § 11352 is over-inclusive under the categorical approach of Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 , 110 S.Ct. 2143 , 109 L.Ed.2d 607 (1990). See United States v. Rivera-Sanchez, 247 F.3d 905, 909 (9th Cir.2001) (en banc). Therefore, we must employ Taylor’s modified categorical approach to determine whether Michel-Garcia’s prior conviction qualifies as a predicate drug trafficking offense. See id.

Considered together, the charging document, abstract of judgment, and the change of plea form, which specifically noted that Michel-Garcia pled guilty and admitted that he “sold .08 grams of cocaine,” clearly and unequivocally established that he was convicted of a “drug trafficking offense,” for the purposes of an enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A). See Shepard v. United States, 544 U.S. 13, 21-22, 26 , 125 S.Ct. 1254 , 161 L.Ed.2d 205 (2005).

AFFIRMED.

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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