United States v. Rodriguez
2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 20419
| 5th Cir. | 2011Background
- Rodriguez pleaded guilty to illegal reentry after deportation, no plea agreement.
- 12-level offense enhancement for a 1990 drug conviction under § 2L1.2(b)(1)(B) gave a total offense level of 18.
- PSR calculations and staleness/cultural assimilation were raised at sentencing.
- District court sentenced Rodriguez to 27 months and three years of supervised release, after noting his age at arrival in the U.S. and deportation history.
- Rodriguez argued the 12-level enhancement was excessive due to the age of the prior conviction and that cultural assimilation warranted lower weight.
- The appellate court affirmed the within-guidelines sentence as reasonable under the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) framework.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether within-guidelines sentences carry a presumption of reasonableness. | Rodriguez argues presumption does not apply due to flawed § 2L1.2. | Rodriguez argues presumptive validity should be rebutted by age of conviction and assimilation. | Presumption of reasonableness applies to within-guidelines sentences. |
| Whether the 12-level enhancement for the 1990 conviction was substantively unreasonable due to staleness. | Rodriguez says old conviction should not drive current range. | State a proper calculation may rely on stale conviction. | Staleness in guideline calculation does not render the sentence substantively unreasonable. |
| Whether the district court adequately weighed Rodriguez's cultural assimilation. | Rodriguez contends assimilation deserves more weight. | Court need not give dispositive weight to assimilation. | Court did not abuse discretion; assimilation weight not required to be dispositive. |
Key Cases Cited
- Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38 (U.S. 2007) (establishes abuse-of-discretion review and totality of circumstances; presumption within Guidelines)
- Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338 (U.S. 2007) (permits presumption of reasonableness for within-guidelines sentences)
- United States v. Mondragon-Santiago, 564 F.3d 357 (5th Cir. 2009) (supports applying presumption to within-guidelines sentence)
- United States v. Duarte, 569 F.3d 528 (5th Cir. 2009) (confirms reasonableness review framework under Gall)
- United States v. Amezcua-Vasquez, 567 F.3d 1050 (9th Cir. 2009) (age of prior conviction potentially influencing reasonableness; noted as non-binding authority for Fifth Circuit)
- United States v. Lopez-Velasquez, 526 F.3d 804 (5th Cir. 2008) (cultural assimilation as mitigation not dispositive weight)